TL;DR Breakdown

• BoR continues to ignore Bitcoin.
• Deripaska criticizes the Bank’s move; reiterates the need for adoption. 

Billionaire blasts Bank of Russia

The Bank of Russia (BoR) has again come under criticism over its handling of cryptocurrency regulations. While Russia has granted Digital Currencies legal status, they are not allowed for use as a payment method.

The latest critic of the institution’s stance is Oligarch and industrial tycoon – Oleg Deripaska.

Deripaska – via his Telegram Channel – censured the Bank’s role in pressuring the country’s crypto space to avoid digital currencies like Bitcoin (BTC). He also argued the need for the institution to enable the use of BTC as a financial instrument for global trade settlements. The Russian Oligarch further expressed his frustration at the evasive responses towards the developments in the crypto industry, especially after the Bank’s statement about CryptoRuble – a digital prototype of the Russian Ruble.

“Even El Salvador, one of the smallest and seemingly poorer countries of the world, have begun exploring digital currencies by recognizing BTC as a legal tender,” Deripaska said.

Russian crypto regulations remain elusive

The billionaire, who founded Basic Element and Volnoe Delo, was sanctioned in April 2018 by the United States treasury department and the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) for allegedly engaging in bribery, money laundering, and extortion. Deripaska has begun working on overturning these sanctions, but his recent attempt proved abortive – Reuters gathered. 

Oleg’s open criticism of the Bank of Russia over its stance on BTC adds to the list of critics such as Fedot Tumusov – a Russian State Duma Member. The latter has recently put out a post via his Instagram account blasting the Bank of Russia’s parochial attitude and double standards towards cryptos. He also went on to say that “digital currencies are the reality; we either accept this or lose out.”