Russia to legalise crypto for payment "sooner or later"

While speaking at a forum, Russian Industry and Trade Minister Denis Manturov said that he believes that the government will start accepting cryptocurrencies as a form of payment in time, reports Reuters. This may signal a shift in thinking between the government and central bank in Moscow.

Responding to a question on legalising cryptos as a form of payment, Manturov said, "The question is, when this happens, how it will be regulated, now that the central bank and government are actively working on it."

He continued, "But everyone tends to understand that...sooner or later this will be implemented, in some format or other."

Before the launch of the war in Ukraine, the Russian finance ministry had submitted legislative proposals that seemed to clash with the central bank's desire to ban cryptocurrencies. An authority as high as central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina has rejected crypto investments, and has expressed the desire to ban both the tokens and crypto mining in Russia.

Manturov did make clear that would first be formulated by the central bank before the government got involved.

There is some political drive to create a central bank digital currency, a "digital rouble", in recent months, but the country has a long history of being suspicious of cryptocurrencies. Authorities have claimed for years that the technology could be used for money laundering or to finance terrorism.