Russia you can join the list very soon countries that prohibit the mining of cryptocurrencies in their territory, since the Central Bank of Russia proposed its ban just a few days ago. And if the proposal is approved, it would become the tenth country to do so, with China (in some regions), Egypt, Iraq, Qatar, Oman, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Bangladesh. Currently, according to TechRepublic, Russia is the third largest country in terms of cryptocurrency mining, behind the United States and Kazakhstan.
The reasons that said bank has given to request the prohibition of cryptocurrency mining is quite similar to those already given by the authorities of the other nine countries that no longer allow cryptocurrency mining in their territory. The entity believes that cryptocurrencies work like a Ponzi scheme, too volatile for legitimate investments. In addition, it considers that it is a tool that favors criminal activity and that it poses a risk to Russian financial sovereignty. They also point out that this activity could cause problems in the energy supply in the country, in addition to damaging the environment.
However, you must not believe the reasons that the countries that prohibit the mining of cryptocurrencies or want to do so are giving. Among them is Avivah Litan, Analyst and Vice President of Gartner specialist in Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. In his opinion, since the bans on cryptocurrencies have so far been mainly in authoritarian countries with an interest in controlling the finances of their citizens, so one should be skeptical of the reasons they give to ban mining.
According to Litan, “the Central Bank of Russia is putting its crypto narrative into a framework that suits its totalitarian methods, instead of being honest and telling it like it is«. Thus, Russia sees cryptocurrencies as a tool to commit crimes, but Litan assures that this is not the case, because according to a recent Chainanalysis report, only 0.15% of the transactions in which Blockchain intervened in 2021 were classified as criminal activities.
Litan also thinks that the concern for the environment does not strain, and believes that the only thing Russia is after with this is control, because «the use and trade of cryptocurrencies threatens the ruble, which is very weak, which has the lowest exchange rate of the last nine months. In addition, it threatens their ability to control the finances of their population.«.
In fact, the Central Bank’s proposal has not been well received in the country, with several of Russia’s top tech leaders, as well as a minister saying that a ban on cryptocurrency mining is a bad idea. Ivan Chebeskov, Director of the Policy Department of the Russian Ministry of Finance, has stated that a ban would lead to Russia missing out on an opportunity in the world of technology innovation. Thus, Chebeskov points out that in Russia they do not want «that these technologies leave the country, and of course they should be developed in Russia«.
