Unusual move: Russia’s central bank, finance ministry to launch crypto exchange

[TomPluz]

Russia’s finance ministry and central bank are reportedly planning to launch a crypto exchange for qualified investors under an experimental legal regime.

The platform will be aimed at “super-qualified investors,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said during a ministry meeting, according to April 23 reports from Russian media group RBC and Russian news agency Interfax.

“Together with the central bank, we will launch a crypto exchange for super-qualified investors. Crypto assets will be legalized, and crypto operations will be brought out of the shadows,” he said in a statement translated from Russian.

“Naturally, this will not happen domestically, but as part of the operations permitted under the experimental legal regime.”

More of this development here in TradingView.


Despite its limitation and the very involvement of the government itself, I am viewing this move as a good news on cryptocurrency specifically on Bitcoin coming from Russia which like China also banned it years ago. This change of heart is just an experiment though and is very much limited in scope as participants will be vetted well and is not yet open to the general public. Hopefully, if this stage can be successful for the exchange, Russia can allow small investors to also participate so they can buy and sell Bitcoin and other crypto assets as allowed.

What do you think of this government-sponsored exchange and do you think this can be successful enough leading to the decision of allowing the people to also participate?

[Charles-Tim]

I do not like the idea but I think they are looking for ways to ditch dollar to avoid, reduce or eliminate sanctions. The exchanges are not just for ordinary people but for rich men that has huge amount of money. They want to use it as a means to know how to control the use of cryptocurrencies in the country.

But I do not like the idea of government-owned crypto exchanges.

[hugeblack]

I thought it would be some form of ETF or some other security with a value equivalent to Bitcoin, but allowing the ability to buy Bitcoin and withdraw it to wallets seems unexpected.
Will sanctions be imposed on such currencies?

[ABCbits]

Under the proposal, the bank created a new investor category, super-qualified investors, defined by wealth and income thresholds of over 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) or a yearly income of at least 50 million rubles ($602,000).

Even top 1% of Russian ctizen doesn't earn that much, so it's not exactly exciting news.

I thought it would be some form of ETF or some other security with a value equivalent to Bitcoin, but allowing the ability to buy Bitcoin and withdraw it to wallets seems unexpected.
Will sanctions be imposed on such currencies?

At least for USA, i have doubt Trump would risk losing support from cryptocurrency company.

[Baofeng]

I do not like the idea but I think they are looking for ways to ditch dollar to avoid, reduce or eliminate sanctions. The exchanges are not just for ordinary people but for rich men that has huge amount of money. They want to use it as a means to know how to control the use of cryptocurrencies in the country.

But I do not like the idea of government-owned crypto exchanges.

Yeah, I have also the same thoughts, that maybe this is just a experiment on their end to see how it goes. Maybe this is just a front to launch crypto exchange, but at the same time they are seeing who's going to support it.

And if it's going to be big then maybe they make Russia a very crypto nation, as opposed to what they used to be wherein everything they said about crypto is to taken with a grain of salt.

[Jating]

They really need to do something with regards to crypto as Russia might see it as a way out from all the sanctions against them. So they disguise under the hood of crypto exchange. And then I guess those who has that special privilege will used all their wealth to come and band together to make Russia a great country again under Putin's vision. So not they are going to used crypto and become one of it's weapon just in case.

[Bobcrypto]

I do not like the idea but I think they are looking for ways to ditch dollar to avoid, reduce or eliminate sanctions. The exchanges are not just for ordinary people but for rich men that has huge amount of money. They want to use it as a means to know how to control the use of cryptocurrencies in the country.

But I do not like the idea of government-owned crypto exchanges.

This has been part of the effort of many countries, even the BRICS, switching to Bitcoin/altcoins has been on discussion, and it is aimed to avoid the Dollar, definitely to circumvent sanctions in my opinion.
In addition, I don't think anything is wrong with government owning Bitcoin, it is actually similar to President Trump's Bitcoin strategic reserve plans which has commenced in the US.
Again, I think that other other countries will find a way to own Bitcoin besides naming it a strategic reserve. If Russia will implement this idea, it is good for the crypto economy and will boost demands for Bitcoin.

[robelneo]

What do you think of this government-sponsored exchange and do you think this can be successful enough leading to the decision of allowing the people to also participate?

Russia is observing the world, and it doesn't want to be left behind. They are fully aware of Trump's action of supporting Bitcoin, and they are fully aware that adoption of cryptocurrency is now massive, and they will be in a stone age in crypto if they do not do something about it.
This experiment is a way to their adoption; their next move is launching their own exchange or maybe allowing other exchanges to operate. Who knows? Maybe in the next few years they are competting with other countries.

[Lucius]

Despite its limitation and the very involvement of the government itself, I am viewing this move as a good news on cryptocurrency specifically on Bitcoin coming from Russia which like China also banned it years ago.

As far as I know, Russia has never banned BTC the way China has - and even their president recently stated "We see processes with the use of other instruments. For instance, Bitcoin. Who can prohibit the use of it? No one."

This change of heart is just an experiment though and is very much limited in scope as participants will be vetted well and is not yet open to the general public. Hopefully, if this stage can be successful for the exchange, Russia can allow small investors to also participate so they can buy and sell Bitcoin and other crypto assets as allowed.

It's hard not to get involved in politics when it comes to this country, but the little people in such a country unfortunately serve other things and under this kind of regime they will never get the chance to equalize with the elite.

What do you think of this government-sponsored exchange and do you think this can be successful enough leading to the decision of allowing the people to also participate?

I don't see anything positive in that, a small number of people who will get another opportunity to get even richer and nothing more than that. After all, there are so many ways for anyone (even in such a country) to invest in cryptocurrencies, why do it through a CEX that is under government control?

[LogitechMouse]

---
Despite its limitation and the very involvement of the government itself, I am viewing this move as a good news on cryptocurrency specifically on Bitcoin coming from Russia which like China also banned it years ago. This change of heart is just an experiment though and is very much limited in scope as participants will be vetted well and is not yet open to the general public. Hopefully, if this stage can be successful for the exchange, Russia can allow small investors to also participate so they can buy and sell Bitcoin and other crypto assets as allowed.

What do you think of this government-sponsored exchange and do you think this can be successful enough leading to the decision of allowing the people to also participate?

Call me dumb, but what does "super-qualified investors" and "experimental legal regime" even means?

Anyway, if I remember correctly, Russia hasn't had the same stance as China did when it comes to cryptocurrency. I haven't heard about them banning the use of Bitcoin and crypto in the whole country. As for the possible effect, I guess if this is one of their ways to move away from dollar then it might be a win-win both for the country, and for crypto as it increases the adoption as well as more users will use cryptocurrencies.

I will say that this will be a successful one if I see it successful. I mean we don't even know if this will end up as a successful one or not.

[Themepen]

Russia is observing the world, and it doesn't want to be left behind. They are fully aware of Trump's action of supporting Bitcoin, and they are fully aware that adoption of cryptocurrency is now massive, and they will be in a stone age in crypto if they do not do something about it.
This experiment is a way to their adoption; their next move is launching their own exchange or maybe allowing other exchanges to operate. Who knows? Maybe in the next few years they are competting with other countries.

It looks like Russian government is really watching what is happening around world with crypto and how important people like Trump are supporting it. You are right that if Russia does not do something about crypto they could end up is very behind in this new technology and economy.
Idea that this experiment could be just first step for Russia to use crypto more widely makes a lot of sense. It would be logical for them to start their own official place to trade crypto or let other big crypto trading places work in Russia. It is quite possible that in next few years Russia could become big player in world of cryptocurrency and  compete with other countries.

There are reports saying that main bank in Russia and part of government that deals with money are planning to start cryptocurrency trading place just for certain experienced investors. They are calling this experimental legal regime. This move is to make crypto trading legal for this specific group of people but they should careful about letting everyone in country use it.

[Z-tight]

The exchange is for only a small number of people, super qualified investors with a lot of money, so the news is not really interesting for retail investors, maybe for institutional investors who earn that much. However, the source also mentions 'experimental', so are they just trying this out to see if it works out.

[SamReomo]

Yes, that crypto exchange will be launched for the elite group not for ordinary people and I find it a step toward getting more investments from elite or richest people of the country. However, still that isn't a bad move.

[hugeblack]

Under the proposal, the bank created a new investor category, super-qualified investors, defined by wealth and income thresholds of over 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) or a yearly income of at least 50 million rubles ($602,000).

Even top 1% of Russian ctizen doesn't earn that much, so it's not exactly exciting news.

For a commercial project or institutional investment, the amount is not large. However, I believe the investment will be available to a specific group that may wish to invest in Bitcoin to avoid inflation. In general, if it were any other country, the focus would be on securities or centralized services for buying/storing Bitcoin.

[bitterguy28]

Despite its limitation and the very involvement of the government itself, I am viewing this move as a good news on cryptocurrency specifically on Bitcoin coming from Russia which like China also banned it years ago. This change of heart is just an experiment though and is very much limited in scope as participants will be vetted well and is not yet open to the general public. Hopefully, if this stage can be successful for the exchange, Russia can allow small investors to also participate so they can buy and sell Bitcoin and other crypto assets as allowed.

i am confused what do they mean with super qualified? and what are the restrictions for those who are not qualified? i hope that crypto can be used as it is even if they do not meet the requirements of what the government is asking to use their own exchange i guess looking at the positive side they are open to crypto but still at the end of the day they are trying to control it to the point that the very aspect of crypto is lost

What do you think of this government-sponsored exchange and do you think this can be successful enough leading to the decision of allowing the people to also participate?

hopefully but knowing russia it would not be a surprise for them to keep allowing only those who meet their requirements and those who they can benefit from