Putin: Crypto Oversight Legislation Will Be Needed

Russian president Vladimir Putin believes that legislation laying out rules for the country’s cryptocurrency sector will be needed in the future.

According to a report from Russian-language news agency TASS, Putin said on Jan. 11 that legislation “will be definitely required in [the] future]” on this front.

"This is the prerogative of the central bank at present and the central bank has sufficient authority so far. However, in broad terms, legislative regulation will be definitely required in future,” he said.

The news source quoted the Russian leader voicing both the risks and opportunities involved with cryptocurrencies.

“It is known that the cryptocurrency is not backed by anything. It cannot be a store of value. No material valuables are behind it and it is not secured by anything,” Putin reportedly said. “It can be a settlement medium to a certain degree and in certain situations. This is done quickly and efficiently.”

That seeming degree of support – coming from someone who months prior briefly met with Vitalik Buterin, the creator of ethereum – was at odds with quoted comments by Russian prime minister Dimitry Medvedev.

Also reported by TASS, Medvedev said that such an eventuality could occur, especially if blockchain becomes more widely used.

"Cryptocurrencies can also disappear in an exactly the same way in several years and the technology being the basis for their development - blockchain - will become part of everyday reality," the prime minister reportedly said.

Russia’s long-awaited cryptocurrency legislation is said to be coming next month. In its report on Putin’s remarks, TASS quoted senior lawmaker Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev, who offered the new timeline to reporters last week.