The use of bitcoin has been growing internationally. Some of the countries are more receptive to bitcoin as an alternative digital currency while there are others who are offering varied degrees of resistance. Russia currently falls among the list of countries that are not receptive towards bitcoin. The recent draft law created by the Russia’s Ministry of Finance stands proof to that.
The Eurasian country has been the target of international economic sanctions for more than a year now. The powerful country, which has already obtained a pariah status in the western world is trying hard to protect its economy from diluting further at the time when it is showing some signs of recovery. However, the steps taken by the nation’s bureaucrats and minsters doesn’t seem to resonate well with economic development as they are trying hard to ban the use of digital currency inside Russia. They have now gone to an extent of proposing prison sentence to those indulging in issuance and circulation of bitcoin and cryptocurrency in the country.
The new draft law drafted by Ministry of Finance includes a provision of up to four years of prison sentence to individuals and businesses involved in bitcoin and other cryptocurrency. The decision seems to have been influenced by the ministry’s classification of bitcoin as monetary surrogates which makes transactions using the popular digital currency illegal. Russia’s stand on bitcoin is retrograde for the country’s financial sector especially at the time when sanctions are making it hard for the country’s businesses to conduct transactions with other Western and Central European and North American nations.
Some of these government officials involved in drafting retrograde regulations against bitcoin instead of creating a more conducive atmosphere keep arguing about its potential use as a money laundering and terrorist financing tools. Hope it won’t be too late before they realize the potential of bitcoin to uplift their country’s economy, otherwise they will be killing one very important tool that might accelerate the recovery of Russian economy while helping them circumvent sanctions as well.
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The news was reported by Russia Beyond the Headlines