Russia: PM Medvedev Sees Promise In Cross-National Crypto Regulation

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev thinks that cryptocurrency regulation shouldn’t take place in just one country, but should be a unified action across all countries in the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), local business journal Vedomosti reported today, Feb. 2.

At a conference entitled “Digital Agenda in the Age of Globalization”, held today in Almaty, Kazakhstan, Medvedev spoke about the need for regulation on an international scale, specifically in regards to the EAEU, which is made up of Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Russia:

“It’s impossible to introduce these principles [regulating cryptocurrencies] in one country, our approach should be closer to the level of the Union.”

In December 2017, Putin had suggested creating a new, multinational cryptocurrency to be adopted in all EAEU and BRICS countries, enabling the use of Blockchain and smart contracts across these emerging markets.

Although Medvedev only spoke in regards to the EAEU, he repeated this idea of a multinational crypto regulatory model in regards to payment services, not just Blockchain protocol:

“In any case, we shouldn’t be limited to only national models. My colleagues said here that cryptocurrencies can be used for payment. Let’s approach this carefully, because our economies are so strongly and closely linked.”

In March of 2017, Medvedev had called for the Ministry of Communications and the Ministry of Economic Growth to begin research into the potential uses of Blockchain in government.

More recently at the Gaidar Forum held in January, Medvedev criticized cryptocurrencies as an economic bubble that will eventually disappear, although he said that Blockchain technology will remain.