Andrey Kostin — the head of VTB, Russia’s second-largest bank — has compared cryptocurrency mining with counterfeiting, major Russian press agency TASS reports Mon, Feb. 4.
While talking to students who participated in an academic contest organized by major Russian tech corporation Yandex, Kostin said:
“I am not a big fan of the crypto ruble. To me, this can be a sort of counterfeiting. An individual who is mining [cryptocurrencies] is comparable to somebody who is printing cash. During the initial euphoria, everybody thought that everything is paid in crypto starting tomorrow, however it hasn’t happened thus far.”
Kostin believes there'll be a comparatively small market niche for cryptocurrencies within the foreseeable future; for as the world financial industry is obtaining a lot of and more clear, offshore holdings are gradually disappearing.
Moreover, the banker believes that there's no relevant way to regulate the crypto space within the same way that the traditional markets are regulated. If cryptocurrencies become dominant on the financial markets, it is dangerous, Kostin concluded.
However, the board chairman at VTB, Olga Dergunova, doesn't share Kostin’s stance. In June 2018, Dergunova claimed that VTB was potentially able to work with digital assets. Moreover, she said that they might be treated on an equal basis with fiat in the near future.
As Top Market Group previously reported, the demand for cryptocurrencies in Russia is allegedly terribly high; however the banks don't seem to be able to meet it because of the shortage of clearly outlined rules. Throughout a private meeting in September 2018, many Russian banks together with Sberbank, Alfa-Bank and VTB reportedly expressed their interest in crypto.
Russia’s cryptocurrency and blockchain legislation, that had passed its presentation stage in March 2018, has since been sent back for additional edits. At the end of Jan, the chairman of the higher house of the country’s parliament urged legislators to expedite their work on the digital economy bills.
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