Bank of Russia Considers Blocking Certain Card Payments to Restrict Crypto Investments

Fazzaco learned that the Bank of Russia is now searching for ways to prohibit Russians from making investments in digital currencies. And one option under consideration is to block card payments to crypto marketplaces, report reveals.

The central bank is intended to order banks to cease transactions with certain Merchant Category Codes (MCC), four-digit numbers that describe a merchant's primary business activities. The code used for crypto exchanges is 6051, reportedly.

Deputy Governor Olga Skorobogatova stated explicitly in a recent discussion that the Bank of Russia didn’t have a plan to make laws that would ban cryptocurrencies, meanwhile, she stressed that the bank was determined to oppose the circulation of digital currencies in the country.

Whereas, sources unveiled that the monetary regulator’s hardline stance was not backed by other government departments which hold the opinion that banning cryptocurrencies would cause a load of troubles, as there are approximately 17.3 million Russians have crypto wallets, according to the Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain. Further, a report expects the volume of digital currency transactions made by Russian residents to total around $5 billion throughout 2021. The Head of the Financial Market Committee at the Duma, Anatoly Aksakov, noted that Russians have so far invested 5 trillion rubles in crypto (over $67 billion).

Earlier, Fazzaco reported that the Russian central bank was intensifying its anti-crypto campaign, with plans to outlaw all cryptocurrency investments in the country​, for the reason that the central bank was concerned over the risks to the country's financial stability with growing cryptocurrency transactions.