Cryptocurrencies can help create a new type of business financing and circumvention of sanctions, experts believe the agency interviewed by Prime. Some of them indicated that to open these opportunities, it is necessary to change Russian legislation.
On Thursday, during a direct line, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that Russia should carefully analyze and monitor the development of the cryptocurrency in terms of the ability to avoid restrictions in the sphere of international financial activity.
The legal status of the cryptocurrency, ICO, mining, and crowdfunding is not yet defined in Russia. In March, the State Duma introduced three bills designed to fill this gap and, on the whole, create regulation in the field of the digital economy. All of them have already passed the first reading. In particular, one of the draft laws defines “digital financial assets”, referring to them as cryptocurrency and a token. It is directly established that such assets are not a legal means of payment in the territory of the Russian Federation.
The Bank of Russia has repeatedly stated that it does not consider it permissible to exchange cryptocurrency for rubles, currency or other property, since even with the identification of the ultimate owner, the possibility of legalizing questionable transactions will open. At the same time, the regulator considers it permissible to allow such an exchange for tokens issued within the framework of Russian ICOs and which do not have a payment function.
CURE FOR SANCTIONS
The general director of the platform for the creation of Tokenbox investment funds Pavel Salas pointed out that the US currently controls bank transfers in dollars.
“Accordingly, no bank will be able to accept or send these funds (in dollars – ed.) To that country or company to which sanctions are imposed (USA – Ed.) … Using blockchain technologies, creating a national or international cryptocurrency, you can bypass sanctions: In this case, investments can come not through the banking system, but through a new decentralized, global system, there is no country that manipulates financial flows in it,” – he said.
The head of Bitfury in Russia, engaged in the mining and equipment manufacturing for it, Dmitry Ufaev suggested that organizations or countries that are under sanctions can agree that mutual settlements between themselves will be performed with the help of alternative cryptocurrencies created by them or already existing. “By agreeing on such an exchange of values, these countries can avoid influencing their economies,” he said.
A similar opinion was expressed by the International Secretary of the International Decentralized Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (IDACB) Maxim Chereshnev.
“Where, due to sanctions, it is impossible to conduct transactions, settlements and operations, in cryptocurrencies – everything is real, legal.” The only restriction may be the position of the Russian Federation itself, how the cryptocurrencies in the country will be regulated, “he said.
“Operations with the cryptocurrency are anonymous and decentralized and therefore can become an important tool for making payments under the conditions of sanctions.” The cryptocurrency is not known for a single center for the issue, storage, and processing of transactions …Â There are no rules of international law governing the cryptosphere, to avoid these restrictions, “said Igor Zartdinov, the head of Enigma, the co-founder of the ICG cryptocurrency fund.
This opinion was supported by the deputy director of the analytical department of the investment company Alpari, Natalya Milchakova. According to her, cryptocurrencies can only foster “a reduction in Russia’s dependence on the unfriendly West.”
“It is necessary to gradually get rid of the dollar, and if possible, from the euro In international settlements, maybe even worth thinking about the release of its own supranational cryptocurrency in the framework of the EAES, which then can be used in trades even with China, at least with Iran, even with Turkey or Saudi Arabia or other truly partner and friendly countries, “she said.
A somewhat different position was taken by the enthusiastic blockchain economist-observer Maxim Blunt. “In case of attempts to use cryptocurrencies in order to withdraw companies under sanctions from financial constraints, the authorities may face the same problems that they are trying to create for Russian blockchain. The idea is that Western financial regulators and law enforcement agencies do not really care about how Deripaska’s conditional money (the businessman, the co-owner of En + and Rusala’s Oleg-ed.) Deripaska moves, to track them if it’s more difficult but not impossible, “he said.
NEW TYPES OF PAYMENTS
Head of the platform for the management of digital assets Zichain Khachatur Ghukasyan explained that the cryptocurrencies “take away the third party in the relationship between the two counterparties.” “One party agrees on the performance of certain actions, and they carry out a payment among themselves, which is not controlled by a third party, in which it is impossible to interfere limit or influence,” he said.
The expert pointed out that the transition of countries to payment among themselves in a currency that is not controlled by a third party can spur both trade and international activity.
As the founder of Blockchain.ru Group Dmitry Matsuk noted, crypto-currencies are one of the solutions for reducing transaction costs and increasing independence in cross-border payments.
The head of Bitfury called cryptocurrency “a chance to change the existing financial system”. “The system is actually centralized toward the US dollar. The cryptocurrency gives companies a chance to escape from this centralization and create an alternative to the existing system, “he said.
Peter Dvoryankin, member of the expert council of the State Duma on the legislative support of financial technologies development and founder of the international network of investors and experts of the digital economy, Cryptolife.World, in his turn, noted the lack of binding of cryptocurrencies to the system of exchange of information on SWIFT financial transactions and tracking of the actual sender and receiver of funds.
“Digital assets, or cryptocurrencies, open new business opportunities in financing, in particular, Russian projects by business structures of Japan or France, which may be interested in investing, but are afraid of the consequences of sanctions from the US,” he said.
The founder of the Universa blockchain-platform Alexander Borodich also announced the advantage in the absence of binding to SWIFT. “The technology itself can become an alternative to the SWIFT system. Thus, all interbank transactions will be protected, for example, if the international payment system is blocked due to sanctions, “he said.
Candidate of Juridical Science, associate professor of the Department of Civil Law Disciplines of the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Sciences Natalya Svechnikova noted that while cryptocurrencies are underdeveloped. “I believe that in the future, the cryptocurrency will be strengthened and will be able to perform the function of a means of payment. It is assumed that cryptocurrency can function without a regulator. This feature is considered by supporters as one of the main advantages in overcoming restrictions in the framework of international financial activity, “he said.
