Russian crypto ban to damage ‘high-tech economy’

Russia’s recent ban on crypto has attracted severe criticism from high-profile figures such as Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov and Leonid Volkov, Navalny’s chief of staff, CoinTelegraph reported.

Central bank: Crypto poses higher risks to emerging markets

On Thursday last week, Bank of Russia proposed a ban on domestic crypto mining and trading. According to their report, the risks of crypto are “much higher for emerging markets, including Russia.”

On Saturday, Telegram founder Pavel Durov posted on his medium that the proposed ban on crypto would “destroy a number of sectors of the high-tech economy,” adding:

Volkov: ‘Impossible’ to ban crypto

Volkov likened the ban to “calling a spade a spade.” He is the chief of staff of Alexei Navalny, who founded the Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK) in Russia. In 2020, he was poisoned with Novichok, a nerve agent. He recovered in Germany and returned to Russia in 2021, where he was arrested. He remains in prison since.

Volkov made reference to a recent Bloomberg report, according to which Russia’s Federal Security Service was promoting the ban because crypto could be used to finance the opposition and extremist groups. He added that Russians were less likely to donate crypto to the FBK than they were to buy drugs with it.

Volkov said:

Crypto banned in most countries in the region

Citizens of Georgia, which shares borders with Russia, were recently made to swear they would stop mining crypto. Crypto mining has been banned in Kosovo and Kazakhstan as well. As always, Ukraine is an exception in the region. In 2021, the government passed laws to make it easier to adopt crypto.