Despite Russian officials' increased interest in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Russia's internet ombudsman expressed confidence that local crypto regulations will remain largely prohibitive.

Dmitry Marinichev, Russia'south ombudsman for the protection of entrepreneurs' rights nether Russian President Vladimir Putin, discussed Russia'south arroyo to cryptocurrency regulations at a console of a major local industry consequence, Blockchain Life 2022, on Midweek.

Russian federation will continue to have a restrictive stance on crypto because the Russian authorities doesn't want Russian people making money with Bitcoin, Marinichev said:

"I'm sure that Russian crypto policies will always be prohibitive because no 1 is looking to permit Russian people to earn money with crypto operations and no one will ever authorize them to proceed with payments using other money than ruble. It is important to be aware of this."

Marinichev as well argued that Russian crypto laws, including the country's first crypto-focused law, "On Digital Financial Assets," or DFAs, have nothing to practise with individual investors and were adopted due to the strong demand of large business organisation and state-backed companies.

"The DFA police only targets big companies and has nada to exercise with the industry. Information technology hasn't affected common people and enthusiasts in the crypto and blockchain industry," the ombudsman argued. He also noted that Russia's energy prices are not that attractive to cryptocurrency miners, claiming that the U.s. has the "cheapest electricity" in the earth.

Marinichev was appointed as Russian federation'south internet ombudsman by President Putin dorsum in 2022. Plainly, the official has been deeply involved in the crypto industry, suggesting that cryptocurrencies be used by the residents of Crimea in 2022. He was besides planning to repurpose his metallic mill, Russian Mining Company, into a crypto mining facility in 2022, expecting to mine twenty% of the world's Bitcoin.

Related: Russia does 'absolutely null' to regulate crypto, RACIB head says

Marinichev'due south remarks on Russian crypto regulations follow the nation'south local governments becoming increasingly interested in crypto, with some ministries proposing to mine Bitcoin with associated gas. At the same time, the Russian government remains skeptical of Bitcoin when information technology comes to the interest of its ain residents, with the Bank of Russia looking to block certain transactions to crypto exchanges.