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Deputy Finance Minister says bitcoin payments will not be legalized in Russia

Earlier, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the bill regulating turnover of cryptocurrencies in Russia will be ready by the end of the year

MOSCOW, September 26. /TASS/. Bitcoin payments will not be legalized in Russia, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev told reporters.

"No regulator doubts that payments will be banned," Moiseev said. At the same time, Head of the State Duma for the Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov told TASS that discussions on the regulation of the crypto currency will continue in the State Duma.

"The discussions will continue. I think that within the framework of these discussions we will decide what we will do with it," Aksakov said, recalling that the State Duma has set up a council that will deal with the issue of regulating cryptocurrencies.

Aksakov added that he is in favor of regulating cryptocurrencies in Russia.

"In any case, there is a market. It is developing rapidly, and there are certain advantages that could be used. I mean the advantages associated with attracting investments for projects through the ICO. I have a positive attitude to this, but there is another point of view. In order to make a decision, consensus will be necessary," he said.

Aksakov said on September 25 that the draft law on regulation of cryptocurrencies will be ready in October. "I think we will determine it within a month. I think in October, and then we will discuss it before submitting it," Aksakov said.

Earlier, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the bill regulating turnover of cryptocurrencies in Russia will be ready by the end of the year.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee for Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communication Leonid Levin said earlier he believes that legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies is necessary to avoid emergence of pyramidal schemes.

"In my opinion, in a country where millions have suffered from pyramid schemes, it is impossible to allow the situation when citizens sell apartments in order to make investments in cryptocurrencies to repeat," he said.

According to him, it is necessary to discuss creation of a legislative framework that would regulate these issues. "Cryptocurrencies, which are often presented as safe financial instruments, have been hacked more than once. This year, theft of cryptocurrency amounted to $225 mln," Levin added.