Representatives of the Qiwi payment system are negotiating with the Central Bank on the use of a crypto-currency called ‘bitruble’ in Russia. It is being developed now.
Reporting on this, “Commersant” refers to the director-general and co-owner of Qiwi, Sergei Solonin. According to him, the bitruble will be created with the same technology used for bitcoin – the most popular currency in the world. It will take some hundreds of millions of rubles to start off the crypto-currency for Qiwi. The payment system company plans to release the bitruble in 2016.
But money issuing is the exclusive right of the Central Bank, permission from whom is necessary. Qiwi has already had informal meetings with the representatives of the CB and a letter with the project description has been sent to power-wielding agencies.
But the press office of the CB has reminded us that the Bank Head, Elvira Nabiullina, has stressed more than once that digital currencies can be used for dubious operations, so the bankers are painstakingly studying the point and will start regulating the sphere if necessary.
To remind you, Qiwi is the first company seeking to release virtual currency in the RF. The volume of virtual money in the world currently totals $3.8 bln.
