The Russian Bitcoin Ban Plan is on Indefinite Hold

The Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation has now stated that the spread of bitcoin in Russia does not represent a threat the country’s financial ecosystem, at its current rate of adoption. As such, the plan to ban the cryptocurrency is now paused.
Alexei Moiseev, the Deputy Finance Minister who has primarily spearheaded the Russian Finance Ministry’s intent to ban bitcoin beginning two years ago in 2014, has now stated that the cryptocurrency isn’t a threat to Russia’s financial system.
At the time, Moiseev deemed bitcoin and cryptocurrencies as ‘surrogate currencies’ – a narrative that has stuck to this day – while stating that the law to ban bitcoin will be passed in 2014, or 2015, at the latest. Such a law has not come to pass.
In recent comments reported by SputnikNews, Moiseev stated:
All of this [bitcoin] does not pose much of a danger to the public, as it has not taken on a mass character that could pose a threat to our financial system right now.
He then added:

This post was published at Crypto Coins News on 12/10/2016.