Elvira Nabiullina, governor of the Bank of Russia, has urged Russia’s central bank to ease up digital asset projects, admitting that the RCB might have taken a bit too tough on digital assets.
Russian Bank Chief highlights digital assets policy
Nabiullina, who was reappointed as Governor of the Bank of Russia for the third time, made this declaration during an official while talking about the measures that Russia has been taking and is planning to adopt to mitigate the impact of the huge Western sanctions against the Russian government.
According to her, the Russian government has been working tirelessly to sustain the economy in the midst of all these through adopting and including digital financial assets.
In her statement, she further emphasised that Russia adopted its crypto-related law, “On Digital Financial Assets,” more than a year ago, but it didn’t help the country get many “real projects.” The Russian government is set to pass another legal initiative, the bill “On Digital Currency,” designed to clarify regulations around crypto trading and mining.
Nabiullina suggested that there may be a need for the Bank of Russia to reconsider its tough stance on the digital asset industry, stating:
“We need to see if we are too tight here and we need to ease up these projects on digital financial assets. This can become another channel for attracting funding through digital financial assets.”
Nabiullina, however, stressed that the government should turn to the development of digital asset initiatives with a “responsible person” issuing them rather than to private cryptocurrencies, which don’t have a responsible party backing them.
She further noted that the Bank of Russia is addressing crypto mining-related issues with the government to come to a beneficial stance.
Russia continuing CBDC launch plans
In her statement, Nabiullina also talked about Russia’s central bank’s digital currency (CBDC), hinting that the Bank of Russia expects to conduct the first real settlements with the digital ruble in 2023.
“We are certainly looking to implement it [the digital ruble] for international settlements,” Nabiullina said, adding that Russia is among the world’s frontrunners in the CBDC development, following countries such as China.
