Russian Presidential Adviser Says Using Bitcoin is a Crime in Russia

German Klimenko, who was appointed as Adviser to the President of the Russian Federation by an executive order signed by Vladimir Putin on the 4th of January, has made it clear that accepting bitcoin payment within Russian is considered a crime.

Klimenko’s statements – which were made in a interview with Lenta.ru, a news site based in Russia – suggested that the introduction of non-national currencies will inevitably undermine the economy.

Klimenko told Lenta.ru (translation by Forklog):

“Any introduction of an outside currency into the balance is always an independence on whether its counterfeit or not, it’s always a blow on economy.“

Klimenko also stated that other countries will have no choice but to ban digital currencies once their usage becomes widespread, “Because no state in the world, while watching it in homepathic doses with pleasure, but when it becomes critical, everyone will certainly ban it,” said Klimenko.

Although not a fan of Bitcoin, Klimenko does seem to take a more positive approach to the technology that underpins it, the blockchain. He believes that the blockchain can be applied to tracking physical Rouble notes:

“You cannot trace the way a 5,000 rubles bank note has made, but with the blockchain technology every note and every ruble will have a marking, and you’ll always be able to look up the history and find out what came whence.”

The presidential adviser “expects lots of experiments” with blockchain tech and envisions a world where every Rouble will be tracked, “We cannot even imagine how different it will be. When every Rouble has a recorded owner, it will become a truly different world,” he said.

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