[NEWS] President Putin says "No one can ban Bitcoin"

Russian President Putin said at an event on the 4th that "no one can ban" Bitcoin (BTC). This was reported by state-run media TASS and others.

When new payment methods become widespread, President Putin said, "The process of using other payment methods is progressing naturally. For example, can anyone ban Bitcoin? No one can." He explained that the reason is that "it is a new technology."

He continued, "No matter what happens to the US dollar, no matter what else happens, these payment methods will develop in some way. This is because everyone is working to reduce costs and increase reliability."

Furthermore, while expressing the view that the spread of new payment methods is unlikely to affect the US dollar, he said, "If the use of the dollar continues to decrease around the world, it will naturally weaken the economic foundation of the United States. This is clear."

President Putin's remarks are thought to be strongly influenced by economic sanctions imposed by the United States, European countries, Japan, and other countries. Russia has already passed a bill to allow crypto assets (virtual currencies) as a means of payment in place of the dollar for foreign trade.

Russia has adopted a partially positive stance toward cryptocurrencies. Although it banned the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in 2020, President Putin signed a bill to legalize cryptocurrency mining on the 29th of last month. The bill recognizes cryptocurrencies as property and aims to collect taxes primarily from miners.

Russia plans to offer a digital ruble as a CBDC (central bank digital currency) as early as next year. By July 1, 2025, major Russian banks must allow their customers to open digital ruble accounts, deposit and transfer digital rubles, and accept them.

Experiments on the digital ruble are currently being conducted at 12 banks, and in September of this year the test subjects were expanded from 600 to 9,000. By issuing a digital ruble, Russia may be able to make an even stronger appeal for breaking away from its reliance on the US dollar.

Reference: TASS
Image: Shutterstock

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