Moscow is announced to host Bitcoin Conference Russia 2016 on 8 April. The event will become the third official bitcoin forum in the country known for its negative attitude towards the digital currency.

Though the complete list of speakers is not available yet, it is expected that the conference will be attended by lawyers, financial and banking structures’ representatives, fintech specialists and entrepreneurs, as well as governmental officials. The event is sponsored by bit-X and Nanocard.



As stated in the press release, Russia needs to “catch up” with the whole world and get ready for “tomorrow, when Europeans and Americans actively use blockchain.” It also highlights the fact that Russian state officials may be getting slightly more tolerant towards bitcoin than they were a year ago.



The list of participants includes deputy director of Innovation Center at the Higher School of Economic University Marina Gurieva, Russian lawyer Artem Tolkachev and Bits.Media site founder Ivan Tikhonov.



Ironically, Bitcoin Conference Russia 2015 was held in the same building where the headquarters of Roscomnadzor, the governmental body in control of the media and Internet, is located. The idea was to make the conference as secure as possible by holding it “in the office of the adversaries.”



While bitcoin in Russia is under threat, the blockchain technology attracts the attention of key players. Russian banks hope that blockchain will help them to overcome the crisis. Last December the country’s largest bank Sberbank did not rule out the possibility to join R3 blockchain consortium.



Also some financial officials, including the Central Bank Governor, apparently do not share the negative sentiment towards bitcoin. On 20 of January Russian media reported that Kazan-based Tatfondbank creates the new lab to study blockchain and Islamic banking.