The Moscow Stock Exchange is reportedly going to launch its own crypto trading platform soon. This is what the director of the Financial Market Committee of the State Duma, the Russian lower house of parliament, says.
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Bitcoin trading
Anatoly Aksakov explains:
“Of course, there should be a crypto exchange, set up according to the strict requirements of the central bank. This could be a division of the Moscow Exchange, a division working within a respected organisation, with great traditions, used to active interaction with the central bank.”
Earlier, Alexei Moiseev, the deputy finance minister, said that his ministry and the Central Bank will draw up a list of trading exchanges in the near future.
It is not new for the Moscow Stock Exchange to hint at crypto trading. It did so for the first time in 2018. At the time, it was about offering to trade bitcoin futures, but the country’s central bank rejected the proposal.
Change of language
In the meantime, a lot has changed. Russia has been hit with sanctions because of the war in Ukraine, and the narrative is starting to resonate from all corners that bitcoin should be legal and regulated. Even the central bank, which for years was vehemently opposed to bitcoin, is slowly starting to move.
There is also legislation coming out of the lower house of the Russian parliament which would prohibit crypto platforms from enabling ‘purchases with crypto currency.’
The bill specifically aims to end the use of digital assets for real-world transactions within the Russian Federation.
Outside of this, bitcoin may still be used for international trade. Specifically, for the sale of oil, as Pavel Zavalny, chairman of the Duma’s Energy Committee, told us earlier. Russia’s finance minister contradicted this statement: “There is no place for bitcoin in oil trading.”
