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Tim Alper
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Tim Alper
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A leading Russian policymaker says the government should launch a “national crypto bank” to boost treasury income and fight fraud.
The Russian state-run news agency TASS reported that the comments came from Yevgeny Masharov, a member of the commission of the Public Chamber of the Russian Federation for the Public Examination of Draft Laws and Other Regulatory Acts (OPRF).
The OPRF is a policy-forming body, which advises the Kremlin and state lawmakers on legislative proposals.
Masharov: Russian Crypto Bank Will Boost Transparency
The policymaker opined that launching a state-operated crypto bank would help bring crypto into the legal sector and boost federal budget revenues. Masharov said:
“A Russian crypto bank would solve several existing problems. It would bring hundreds of billions of rubles worth of [crypto] transactions out of the shadows.”
Lawmakers have previously talked about the idea of launching state-run crypto exchanges. They also want to ban the quasi-legal coin exchanges that currently operate nationwide.
Such a move would also help boost federal budget income, with new taxes imposed on crypto trading, he argued.
Masharov noted that similar plans were already being put into place in nations like Belarus. TASS wrote that Minsk lawmakers are set to “develop a regulatory framework for the activities of a crypto bank in the near future.”
If Minsk’s project is successful, the project would be “the first of its kind on the territory of the former Soviet Union,” TASS wrote.
Earlier this month, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko told cabinet officials to develop more crypto-related industries to ensure Minsk can take a lead in the space.
Lukashenko and other top Belarusian officials have been talking about creating a “national crypto bank” for some time.
But the matter appears to have returned to the agenda in Minsk since Washington began rolling out crypto-related legislation earlier this year.
Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko has repeated calls this month for his country to pursue crypto-related business. Previous plans have involved the launch of a ‘national crypto bank.’
A Crime-fighting Tool?
The policymaker added that launching a crypto bank would help “strike a blow against online fraud.”
Moscow has been fighting a rise in what the financial sector calls “droppers.” This term refers to cash, card, and crypto mules that fraudsters, online casinos, and drug dealers use to launder money.
Masharov said that the funds droppers collect are usually transferred to crypto wallets and then “legalized,” allowing criminals to spend them money on real estate and luxury goods.
But restricting Russian crypto transactions to the confines of the bank, Moscow would be able to fight back against this form of fraud, the policymaker said.
Bitcoin miners could also stand to benefit, he said. He added: “We still have no infrastructure that lets miners sell their coins in Russia.”
And Masharov said that the new bank could also help Russian firms conduct safer cross-border business.
Russia remains disconnected from the SWIFT bank messaging network and heavily sanctioned by Washington, Brussels, and London.
As such, many trade firms now use crypto in place of the US dollar in international trade payments.
But most of these deals are conducted “outside the legal field,” Masharov said. This gives “fraudsters and Western intelligence agencies” the opportunity to “exploit gaps in legislation,” he concluded.
In July this year, Masharov said Russian authorities should be have the power to seize tokens from illegal or quasi-legal Bitcoin miners.
Bailiffs should be given the power to transfer these coins to Treasury-controlled crypto wallets, he urged.
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