The head of the Central Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, believes that the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies continue to increase. During a press conference on Friday, Nabiullina said that her views about digital currencies remain the same, as per Russian publication Tacc. She said,

“My attitude towards private cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, has not changed. And this price increase only shows the potential for volatility of such private cryptocurrencies. To be honest, the price of bitcoin does not even affect its essence.”

After hitting a new high at $49,000 this week, the price of the largest cryptocurrency is currently keeping around $47k.

She further said, Bitcoin is “not a currency,” and while the interest in the asset is there, so are the risks, which also remain the same, and “maybe even intensify.”

“The fact that this is a very volatile asset – how quickly it grows in price, just as it can fall – this is history has shown,” said the Russian economist. Unlike Nabiullina’s skepticism, Nigeria sees positive reviews from its policymakers. Senator Sani Musa said,

“Cryptocurrency has become a worldwide transaction of which you cannot even identify who owns what. The technology is so strong that I don’t see the kind of regulation that we can do. Bitcoin has made our currency almost useless or valueless.”

A wide range of positive comments came from many Senators who had the Senate mandate the Committees on Banking, Insurance and other Financial Institutions, ICT and Cybercrimes, and Capital Market inviting the CBN Governor for a briefing on the opportunities and threats of the cryptocurrency on the nation’s economy and security.

The Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria is also asked to report back its findings within two weeks after the central bank banned the trading of cryptocurrencies.

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