The Bank of Russia has proposed a ban on all crypto operations by cryptocurrency exchanges and P2P platforms operating in Russian territory, according to its consultation paper. The apex bank has also called for imposing penalties on the violators of this ban. One of the reasons for the ban is the risk posed by crypto assets to financial stability, which is significantly higher for emerging market economies, such as Russia, owing to "a traditionally higher propensity for dollarisation and insufficient level of financial literacy," as per the paper. A summary of the report concluded that cryptocurrencies’ potential for settlements seems limited in the long run. It highlighted that crypto assets bear signs of a “financial pyramid” as the price rise is largely driven by “demand from new market participants”. “The rapid growth of their market value is predominantly spurred by speculative demand and expectations of a further rise in their prices, which leads to the formation of a bubble in the market,” read the summary. The market for cryptocurrencies has surged globally in the last year as its market capitalisation reached $2.3 trillion. Russia makes up a significant portion of global crypto activity as it is the third-largest base for crypto mining. The proposed set of regulations might influence other nations that are working on their own crypto regulatory frameworks Why is the Russian Central Bank averse to crypto mining? Crypto mining is the issuance of a cryptocurrency and/or the receipt of a cryptocurrency as a reward for validating transactions, as per…
