REUTERS
Russian mobile payments company Qiwi is developing new cryptocurrency, “bitrouble," having started negotiations with the country's financial regulator, Coinfox.info reported citing the Russian newspaper Kommersant.
“We sent the description of the project to the law enforcement agencies,” said Qiwi owner Sergey Solonin in his comment to Kommersant, coinfox.info reports.
The Russian law prohibits the issue of any currency without the sanction of the regulator. Kommersant mentions that “Qiwi had several informal meetings with the Central Bank representatives.”
Representatives of the Central Bank of Russia informed the newspaper that the regulator had to scrutinize the issue. They say that the Central Bank is ready to regulate the digital currencies if it will be necessary.
CoinFox has to point out that the name of the new currency looks problematic. The word “bitrouble” sounds well in Russian, but in English it carries some sinister connotations.
Read alsoUkraine may soon legalize bitcoin - mediaEarlier this year, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it is possible to use cryptocurrencies “in certain segments of economy,” though they “have no real basis.” He also acknowledged he had been discussing cryptocurrencies with Elvira Nabiullina, head of the Russian Central Bank who in turn spoke favourably of bitcoin before. Putin did not mention the word “bitcoin”, speaking instead of some "coins." His press-secretary, Dmitry Peskov later explained that Putin’s words were “not specifically about Bitcoin”.