Last week, the news that Russia is considering investing huge amount of money into Bitcoin as a means to invade US sanctions spread like fire.

Given the fact that Russia has been working on de-dollarization plans for a long time now while looking for an alternative reserve currency further put force behind this news. This got the crypto enthusiasts excited as this would have meant huge investment into the crypto market and that too directly from the government.

However, this might not be happening at least, any time soon, as the Russian news channel, Forklog, published an article quoting Elina Sidorenko, the chairperson of an interdepartmental working group of the State Duma for managing risks of cryptocurrency turnover, as saying,

“Under this statement, there is not a bit of common sense, much less ideas that would be considered in government circles. The Russian Federation, like any other country in the world, is simply not ready today to somehow combine its traditional financial system with cryptocurrencies. And to say that in Russia this idea can be implemented in the next at least 30 years is unlikely to be possible.”

She further pointed out that given the fact that there is lack of any legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies in the territory of the Russian Federation makes what Vladislav Ginko, a teacher at the Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration under the President of the Russian Federation, said sound absurd.

“Even if Russia wants to place its cryptocurrency assets now, it simply cannot do this, due to the fact that we do not have any mechanisms that would allow us to introduce a system, where these assets would be stored, which authorities would be responsible for it, which would be responsible for abuses and stuff. Such a model under the current criminal, financial and civil legislation, in general, does not fit. All over the world, a cryptocurrency is considered as a high-risk asset and a similar model, naturally, would not suit anyone.”

However, Sidorenko does note a different way to solve this issue which she states is the only way to use digital assets at the state level.

She says an interstate cryptocurrency can be created that would then become a unified system of payments between countries.

“A similar idea is already being considered within the framework of the EAEU, but the BRICS countries have moved closer to it. If a cryptocurrency unit had been invented, which allowed making payments only for energy, in fact, the Russian Federation could have made a long and long-term advance in the economy.”

Just recently, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev talked about cryptocurrencies and their volatility being a cause for concern while acknowledging the fact that it has its own benefits that can’t be cast aside.

“But this, of course, is not a reason to bury them [cryptocurrencies]. Here […] there are both light sides and dark sides, as in any social phenomenon, in any economic institute. And we should just watch closely what happens to them.”

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