MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov said Wednesday that he supported cryptocurrencies and would welcome the appearance of the cryptoruble, adding that the government would work cautiously on it, paying attention to the other countries' experience.
"I am a supporter of cryptocurrencies, I think that there should be the cryptoruble. But this is a complicated issue. At a working group on the blockchain we agreed that we would proceed with caution, but would not drag out [the process]," Shuvalov said.
The deputy prime minister added that the Russian government, the Central Bank and the Federal Security Service (FSB) were working on security implication of the introduction of this currency.
Shuvalov added that the advance of cryptocurrencies could not be stopped, but they had to be introduced in such a way that would boost the national economy rather than weaken it.
Shuvalov added that the government was interested not only in cryptocurrencies, but in other applications of the blockchain technology, which allows to register and timestamp various transactions, with the relevant information kept in a distributed database available to all network users.
"Blockchain for us is not an ability to generate the equivalent of money, but also and, perhaps, above all, a mechanism that may ensure a professional, transparent and fast government service. We are now looking at providing government services through the blockchain," Shuvalov said.
A distributed ledger technology allows for two types of ledger, a public one, open to everyone in the Internet, which is the kind that the well-known Bitcoin cryptocurrency uses, and a permissioned ledger, which can only be maintained by a limited number of participants who need permission to access the network.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said in late July he was "cautious" about the usage of cryptocurrencies since the area was not well regulated.
