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RUSSIA'S ECONOMY

Moscow Exchange might launch cryptocurrency trading

Earlier, Head of Sberbank Herman Gref said he was in favor of legalizing cryptocurrency

ST. PETERSBURG, June 2. /TASS/. The Moscow Exchange is considering the possibility of launching trading in cryptocurrencies, the Moscow Exchange CEO Alexander Afanasiev told reporters on the sidelines of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2017 (SPIEF 2017).

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Russia’s Central Bank to develop national cryptocurrency

"We have been focusing our attention on this issue. However, the most important thing for is complete legality of the instrument, we can only experiment in the legal field. This question is now in a somewhat suspended state," he said.

Earlier, First Deputy Governor of the Russian Central Bank Sergey Shvetsov said that one of the Russian stock exchanges is considering the possibility of launching trading in cryptocurrencies.

Deputy Governor of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova said that the regulator will develop a national cryptocurrency. "Regulators of all countries agree that it’s time to develop national cryptocurrencies, this is the future. Every country will decide on specific time frames. After our pilot projects we will understand what system we could use in our case for our national currency," Skorobogatova said at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum 2017 (SPIEF-2017).

According to Skorobogatova, it would be a virtual analogue of the ruble. "The national currency can exist in electronic form, not just in paper as we now have it in our wallet. This is one of the elements of growth of non-cash turnover in the country," she said.

In addition, the Central Bank proposes to introduce the Russian cryptocurrency to protect all types of transactions, if the digital currency will be used for it, Skorobogatova said.

The Central Bank's pilot projects will be implemented jointly with the financial market participants and the Fintech association, the first developments will appear in 2-3 years, Skorobogatova said. Digital currency will be created on the basis of technology of distributed ledgers.

Read also

Earlier, Head of Sberbank Herman Gref said he was in favor of legalizing cryptocurrency.

Bitcoin is the world’s most famous cryptocurrency and a digital payment system invented by an unknown programmer, or a group of programmers, under the name Satoshi Nakamoto. It was released as open-source software in 2009 and since then has been steadily gaining popularity among Internet users. However, recently its situation began to deteriorate due to legislative restrictions imposed in several countries.

Bitcoin is not regulated by any country or banking supervisory authority. It can guarantee complete anonymity of a person or a group of people using it.

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