Russia’s plans for introducing a ‘CryptoRuble’ to rival Bitcoin are in full swing, according to reports.
It is understood that Vladimir Putin himself has ordered teams of experts to create a cryptocurrency that will allow the Russian leader to bypass international sanctions and keep many of his country’s huge intercontinental transactions under the radar.
Last week it was suggested that the Central Bank of Russia had a long-term plan to snap up millions of Bitcoins as an alternative to gold for its national reserve.
But now, according to a Coin Rivet article for the Daily Express, it appears Moscow’s financial superpowers are looking to fast-track their own cryptocurrency into the mainstream Russian economy within three years.
Massive reserve
The Kremlin’s plot to create a massive reserve of stockpiled bitcoin was both confirmed, denied and clarified by Putin’s head of crypto – Elina Sidorenko – who admitted the idea was on the table, but it would be ‘many years into the future’ before it became a reality.
She rejected the rumour that specialist teams had already been formed with direct orders from Putin to buy as many Bitcoins as possible to pump into a digital hoard that could work around current or future sanctions imposed by the US and other countries.
“The Russian Federation, like any other country in the world, is simply not ready today to somehow combine its traditional financial system with cryptocurrencies,” she said.
“And to say that, in Russia, this idea can be implemented in the next at least 30 years is unlikely to be possible.”
Lawful framework
Perhaps the main stumbling block is that Russia is yet to create the legal mechanism to allow the circulation of cryptocurrencies. Any implementation of a lawful framework would very quickly open the floodgates. Ministers at the Kremlin charged with delivering a legal mechanism will be asking how they can take advantage of creating a framework by launching a currency of their own.
Therefore, it seems highly likely that the rumours claiming the Central Bank of Russia wanted to harvest and stash away as many Bitcoins as possible was, perhaps, a diversion from Moscow’s real intentions.
Instead, it now appears that plans to launch a CryptoRuble are up and running.
Since December, Russia has shed billions of US dollars in holdings from its reserves and began moving its vast monetary reserves to Euros and Yuan. And while that policy has raised eyebrows throughout the fiscal world, some experts believe it paves the way for what could become a financial revolution.
Russian observers are now earmarking 2022 as the year the CryptoRuble could become reality.
Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the author should not be considered as financial advice. We do not give advice on financial products.