Russian FSB Agrees with Central Bank to Ban Crypto Transactions in Russia

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The FSB has convinced the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Elvira Nabiullina, to support a complete ban on operations with cryptos in Russia, Bloomberg has reported with reference to two unnamed sources.

According to them, this way the authorities plan to deprive the opposition and media-foreign agents of access to funding.

The publication suggests the ban could affect $92 billion of digital assets held in Russia. At the same time, the financing of the opposition and the media is an insignificant share of this amount.

The creation of a regulatory framework for the crypto market will become a priority of the spring session of the State Duma, according to sources.

Reuters reported on December 16 citing two sources that the Central Bank of Russia wants to ban Russians from investing in cryptos due to the risk of financial instability.

In September, the regulator announced it plans to develop a mechanism for blocking payments to crypto exchanges.