Russian Central Bank Issues New Warning Against Cryptocurrencies

The Central Bank of Russia warned investors on the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies in a report released yesterday.

According to TASS, the central bank's annual Financial Stability Report noted an apparent bubble in the cryptocurrency markets, stating that it may lead to "substantial losses" for investors.

The report also stated that cryptocurrencies may be used for criminal activities, in particular for money laundering and terrorism financing.

The report continued on to declare that:

"The task of national and supranational regulators is to minimize those risks via developing a coordinated approach to regulation of the cryptocurrencies market and restricting the potential of high-risk investments and transactions."

This is not the first time the central bank has come out against cryptocurrencies. Deputy governor Sergei Shvetsov said just last month that the bank would try to block non-Russian websites from selling bitcoin in the country altogether.

At the time, he said bitcoin came with "unreasonably high risks," echoing the sentiments expressed in this month's report. He also referred to bitcoin as a pyramid scheme due to its generation of high returns in short periods of time.

Those comments came as part of Russia's apparent efforts to restrict to bitcoin exchanges in the country. In September, deputy finance minister Alexey Moiseev said he expected all cryptocurrency payments to be banned by the national government.

Central bank image via amanderson2/Wikimedia Commons