Russian leaders from the crypto and blockchain industry are requesting a meeting with President Vladimir Putin to discuss crypto regulation. The Russian Association of the Crypto Industry and Blockchain (RACIB) and Russoft, a software developers’ union, submitted a letter to Putin’s office asking for him to lead a “workshop” to agree on the basics of policy for crypto regulation. The letter called for “organized” crypto community representatives to attend the meeting, claiming that there was a “serious risk” that Russia’s economy would fall behind international counterparts without introducing new financial technologies. Russian crypto regulation is polarized, with the finance and commerce ministries favoring regulation and issuing licenses to crypto exchanges, while the Central Bank calls for almost complete crypto ban. The RACIB and other industry groups fear that compromise proposals would restrain Russian businesses and urge Putin’s office to create a crypto working group and launch crypto pilot projects to explore digital payments with Russian political allies and BRICS countries.
