Russian Central Bank Sees No Need for a National Cryptocurrency

The Russian Central Bank sees no obvious need to issue a national cryptocurrency, head of the regulator Elvira Nabiullina said at the Finopolis forum of innovative financial technologies, TASS informs.

“As Russia’s Central Bank, we have been studying this topic and the need to issue a national cryptocurrency is not obvious for us. Not only for technological reasons, but also because it is (difficult) to really estimate what advantages will the national digital currency give, for example, in comparison with existing electronic non-cash payments. There are many risks, and the advantages may not be obvious enough,” Nabiullina said, addressing to Deputy Governor of the People’s Bank of China Fan Yifei.

Nabiullina has repeatedly stressed in the past that the regulator does not support legalization of cryptocurrencies as a legitimate payment facility, but sees the prospects for the blockchain technology.

Fan Yifei said that China is now exploring the possibility of creating a national cryptocurrency and believes that it is important to cooperate with other countries in developing digital currencies to develop regulatory standards.

The Chinese representative did not specify when China is going to launch its national cryptocurrency, saying that at first it was necessary to conduct a number of studies, including taking into account the experience of other countries.