"What I want to say about cryptoassets, anyway, we should not lock ourselves within the framework of the national model. The colleagues here said that it would be possible to pay with the cryptocurrency, let's take a closer look at this because our economies are too tightly connected. It would be impossible to adopt these principles within just one country. It is necessary to bring our approaches closer to the level of the Union," Medvedev said at the "Digital Agenda in the Globalisation Era" forum in Kazakhstan’s Almaty.
The Russian prime minister added it was necessary to synchronize the efforts of the EAEU member states.
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On December 21, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko signed a decree on the development of the digital economy, including blockchain and cryptocurrency technologies, to create favorable conditions for world's leading IT companies in the republic. The document must enter into force in late March. Meanwhile, Belarusian Prime Minister Andrei Kobyakov said earlier in the day that the country did not consider the introduction of a national cryptocurrency or testing the blockchain technology.
On January 22, the Russian Finance Ministry published a draft law on the regulation of digital assets, giving the definitions of the cryptocurrency, token, mining and ICO (initial coin placement, the procedure of the initial issue of tokens). The ministry noted that the Russian Central Bank had opposed the draft law provision on the possibility of exchanging cryptocurrency for rubles, foreign currency or other property. The Bank of Russia then explained to Sputnik that it considered it permissible to exchange rubles, currencies or other property for tokens issued within the framework of Russian ICOs exclusively and opposed such exchange for other cryptocurrencies. Even if the ultimate owner of the asstes is identified, the possibility of legalizing shady transactions will still exist, the central bank explained.
