One of Russia’s wealthiest men, Vladimir Potanin, has claimed that national digital currencies such as the digital ruble have more real-world meaning than BTC and other private digital currencies. Potanin made his opinion known among the two digital currencies in the latest Bloomberg interview.

National Digital Currencies Are The Future Of The Finance World – Potanin

The Russian billionaire claimed that developing national digital currencies and physical assets’ tokenization would make private digital assets obsolete. Potanin’s opinions seem strange given that he holds a major investment in Atomyze (a blockchain firm that tokenizes physical assets). 

Speaking after Atomyze received its operating license, the Russian billionaire said, “Atomyze is unique from other cryptocurrencies as the quality of its digital product offerings drives off unreliable goods from the market.” Potanin further claimed that the development of the digital ruble is the next big step for Russia’s Fintech development. 

He further remarked that the central bank’s control of the digital ruble is pivotal to curtailing the risks of using private digital currencies such as BTC. The second wealthiest Russian believes that there would be no need to outrightly ban digital currencies once the nation’s apex bank can perform thorough oversight functions over the digital asset sector.

Part of such function would be the tracking and verification of all crypto-related transactions. He also revealed that one of his reasons for investing in Atomyze is its plan to issue tokens for its users to buy physical assets through the blockchain.

“Paper money replaced metal coins, and cashless transactions replaced paper money. It is only logical that digital assets are the next step,” Potanin further disclosed.

Russia’s Crypto Landscape

Early last month, the bank of Russia issued a report suggesting a total ban on digital currencies. It suggests that digital currencies are mostly used for illicit transactions. The bank also claimed that crypto mining involves huge energy consumption that will hinder the nation from achieving its sustainable energy objectives.

However, the suggestion was countered by Leonid Volkov (one of the Russian opposition leaders) and Pavel Durov (one of the Telegram founders). The latest move is the joint efforts between Russian authorities and the apex bank in developing a framework that recognizes digital assets like currencies.

Nevertheless, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin claims that the nation’s vast resources put it at an advantage over the nations in attracting crypto miners. “Our abundance of energy supply and adequate personnel gives us a competitive edge over others, particularly for crypto mining purposes,” Putin said. If crypto miners find Russia a favorable place, Russia will contribute significantly to the BTC hashrate. 

Russian Officials Shut Down Four Websites That Accept Crypto Payments

According to various local news outlets in Russia, four carding websites that accept crypto payments have been closed by Russian operatives. The sites usually accept crypto payments for the sale of stolen credit cards and had amassed nearly $265m in the period they have been operating.

The report also revealed that BTC, ETH, and LTC are the most used cryptos. One of the websites (Ferum Shop) was reported to have earned cryptos worth about $257m from selling stolen credit cards.