Putin Signed A Ban On All Crypto Payments In Russia: Report

Putin signed a ban on all crypto payments in Russia and the drastic move came after mixed signals from the leaders and regulators in the country so let’s read more today in our cryptocurrency news.

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a ban on all crypto payments in the country which came after the government and central bank debated what to do about crypto. Back in January, the Bank of Russia proposed a ban on crypto for payments and investments and today’s law didn’t go that far but back in February, Russia’s finance ministry submitted a draft of the regulations which was enacted today, allowing for investment in digital assets such as Bitcoin and Ethereum but not allowing users to buy things with it.

The law as published by the Russian parliament website reads:

“It is prohibited to transfer or accept digital financial assets as a consideration for transferred goods, performed works, rendered services, as well as in any other way that allows one to assume payment for goods (works, services) by a digital financial asset, except as otherwise provided by federal laws.”

Russia has been in the crypto spotlight since the country invaded Ukraine and as a result, major companies like Coinbase and Binance said they will comply with the EU or US laws on limiting the people in Russia using exchanges. Crypto legislation in Russia is quite complicated. The country’s central bank called for a ban on BTC mining and crypto transactions but then the country’s finance ministry said that it will be necessary to allow crypto technology to develop.

The president of the country expressed quite the enthusiasm for BTC mining when he said that Russia had certain competitive advantages like a surplus of electricity and knowledgeable personnel available in the country to mine the currency. BTC closed the week down by 5% to $20,790 and ETH remained at $1,231, down by a percent from the past week.

As recently reported, The President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin says crypto-mining could actually turn out to be beneficial for the country. He did agree with the central bank that the digital assets are highly volatile and pose risks to the financial network but he does see potential in mining as it could give Russia certain competitive advantages.