Russian crypto industry group calls for talks with Putin – that’s what it wants to discuss

Leaders of Russia’s crypto-asset and blockchain industry have said they want to meet President Vladimir Putin for face-to-face talks on crypto regulation.

RBC media reported that the request was made by the Russian Association of Cryptography and Blockchain Industry (RACIB) and a syndicate of software developers named Russoft. The parties co-wrote a letter, which they submitted to Putin’s office and shared online.

The parties called on Putin to lead a “workshop” that would “agree on the basics” of policy “in the area of” crypto regulation. The authors asked Putin to “allow representatives” of the “organized” crypto community to attend the meeting.

The parties claimed there was a “serious risk” that the Russian economy would end up “behind” its international counterparts. This will happen if Moscow fails to introduce “new financial technologies”, he claimed.

The authors said that Russia’s political enemies and “friendly” countries now threaten to overtake Russia in the crypto and fintech sectors.

Russian crypto regulations are stuck in limbo, with Moscow deeply divided over the issue. The country’s finance and commerce ministries are in favor of regulating crypto businesses, licensing domestic crypto exchanges, and requiring industrial miners to pay taxes on their earnings.

But the Central Bank – led by Putin’s main ally, Elvira Nabiullina – is fiercely opposed. Nabiullina wants to enact a near-total, Chinese-style crypto ban and would like to defend a digital ruble instead.

This deadlock has led to talk of compromise, which appears to have raised concerns for RACIB and other industry groups.

Why do Russian crypto leaders want to meet Putin?

The authors of the letter claimed that the current policy proposals “would not allow Russian companies to fully explore the potential of new financial instruments”.

They claimed that Russian companies would likely seek to relocate to other countries. And they said it would mean “direct financial losses to the Treasury”.

The bodies lamented the “extremely conservative and prohibitive approach” of policymakers.

And they warned that pursuing an overly conservative approach to crypto regulation would mean that Russia would lose the pace of global digital economic development.

The authors claimed that Russia would give up the “opportunity” to become a world leader in digital payments if it implemented strict regulations.

The RACIB called on Putin’s office to form a cryptography task force and launch cryptography “pilot projects”.

The body noted that these pilots could explore the cross-border payments space with Russian political allies, as well as with other BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

BRICS members recently revised their plans to launch a common stablecoin. Moscow and Tehran have also had discussions about creating a gold-backed token that would allow them to trade without using the US dollar.