It will now be banned to mine cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation following the decision to launch its own, national, cryptocurrency called CryptoRuble. The decision was made at the same meeting which Neowin reported about earlier in the week; the ban on the mining of other cryptocurrencies is a new detail that has since emerged.

The Communications Minister, Nikolay Nikiforov, said that the currency “mustn’t be a private currency, but the one, which is issued by the state, controlled by the state and enable to provide circulation of digital money in light of the digital economy.”

It’s unclear how the ban on mining will affect the price of alternatives such as Bitcoin. However, there’s no mention of a ban on the use of Bitcoin so it may not have too much of an impact. China, on the other hand, tried shutting down exchanges which did have a significant, if only temporary, impact on the price.

Rubles and CryptoRubles will be interchangeable at any time, however, if you’re unable to explain the source of the Crypto variant during the exchange, the government will levy a 13 percent tax on the amount. Additionally, if the value of the CryptoRuble appreciate compared to Ruble, a tax will be levied to make up the difference between the two; this will ensure that they stay around the same level.

In early June this year, Vitalik Buterin met with Vladimir Putin on the sidelines of St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF). There's no information what the founder of Ethereum and the president discussed, but it could have been related to the establishment of the CryptoRuble.

Source: RT