Russia’s Minister of Communications about launching a cryptoruble: „If we don’t, then after two months our neighbors in the Eurasian Economic Community will”

Russia may soon become the world’s first country to launch a cryptocurrency backed by a nation state. Russian President Vladimir Putin has officially stated that Russia will issue its own ‘CryptoRuble’ at a closed door meeting in Moscow, according to local news sources cited by cryptocurrency news website CoinTelegraph. The news broke through Minister of Communications Nikolay Nikiforov.

According to the official, the state issued cryptocurrency cannot be mined and will be issued and controlled and maintained only by the authorities. The CryptoRubles can be exchanged for regular Rubles at any time, though if the holder is unable to explain where the CryptoRubles came from, a 13 percent tax will be levied. The same tax will be applied to any earned difference between the price of the purchase of the token and the price of the sale. Nikiforov said:

“I confidently declare that we run CryptoRuble for one simple reason: If we don’t, then after two months our neighbors in the EurAsEC [Eurasian Economic Community] will,” said Russia’s Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov.

Russia’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, said in an interview last week that cryptocurrencies are a “fact of life” and hinted at his country’s plan to become more involved in the digital currency space. Siluanov said Russia planned to regulate the circulation, trading and mining of digital currencies in order to generate tax revenues and protect people and investors.

“Cryptocurrencies are a fact of life,” Siluanov told CNBC. “We need to create a legal framework for these operations, we need to control these operations if these operations contravene the law, including money laundering legislation.”

Siluanov’s comments came just days after Russian President Vladimir Putin said cryptocurrencies like bitcoin were used for criminal activity and would therefore be blocked by the country’s central bank.

“The usage of cryptocurrencies carries serious risks,” Putin said. “I know the central bank’s position on that. Cryptocurrencies are issued by an unlimited number of anonymous bodies. Thus buyers of cryptocurrencies could be involved in unlawful activities.”

Putin quite recently called for a complete ban on all cryptocurrencies within Russia.

However, after the meeting with Putin last week, the regulators decided that Russia will regulate cryptocurrencies. The finance ministry is working with the central bank to draft a bill which is expected by the end of the year, according to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov.