The head of Russia’s State Duma Committee on Financial Markets has said that the institution is considering launching a state-owned virtual currency pegged to the Russian ruble, radio news station Govorit Moskva reported on Friday.
Speaking at a press conference on the expansion of the household debt load, Chairman Anatoly Aksakov said he is certain that the administration will back a cryptocurrency; however, it will be a ruble-backed cryptocurrency. The official indicated that the proposed coin will depict a blockchain-enabled stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the ruble.
According to Moscow-based news outlet Mskagency, the chairman has clarified that the cryptocurrency will be issued by the central bank since it is backed by fiat currency. In conclusion, Aksakov noted that the implementation of blockchain technology in terms of issuance “crypto-money” is “promising.”
In late October, Aksakov claimed that major cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) and Ethereum (ETH) are doomed to a “bleak future” since they are not backed by anything, adding that this was a reason for the recent amendment to the Russian draft law “On Digital Financial Assets,” removing the definition of crypto mining from its purview.
The idea of launching a Russian state-issued cryptocurrency, dubbed the CryptoRuble, was announced in early 2018, with the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (RACIB) claiming that the coin will be launched in the middle of 2019.
However, most recently, presidential adviser Sergey Glazyev claimed that there is still no movement on the matter, while stating that the existing programmatic tools could allow for a “very fast” issuance of cryptocurrency.
