Russia’s central bank may consider gold-backed cryptocurrency

The Central Bank of Russia may consider the idea of a gold-backed cryptocurrency for mutual settlements with foreign partners, the Governor of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina said at the State Duma on Thursday as cited by the local media outlet Tass.

However, the head of the Russian central bank made it clear that the settlements in national currencies remain a priority. Also, she emphasized that it was more important to focus on promoting national currencies payments and noted good progress towards that goal within the  Eurasian Economic Union, 

Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Russia has long been an anti-crypto institution and opposed the use of cryptocurrency within the monetary system. Speaking in Duma, Nabiullina reiterated this position, saying that the regulator would not approve the idea of having digital assets as monetary surrogates.

Earlier this week, it has become known that the State Duma had been forced to delay the adoption of the long overdue bill on digital assets as the FATF (Financial Action Task Force) had required to expand the terminology of the proposed legislation by including the definition of cryptocurrencies. The legislators wanted to cheat on it to avoid contradictions with the skeptical Bank of Russia.