The Central Bank of Russia created a special working group to research the blockchain technology, the deputy president of the bank Olga Skorobogatova revealed at the Finnopolis 2015 Forum in Kazan.

Skorobogatova confirmed that the Central Bank was examining the blockchain very closely:

“We would like to understand to what extent the technology can be used for settlements and payments in our community,” she said.

The digital currencies have become one of the major trends at the Kazan Forum. The bitcoin currency discussion started after Qiwi announced the ‘bitruble’ cryptocurrency and started negotiating the matter with the regulator.

Yesterday, the governor of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina revealed that the bank was researching the technologies behind the cryptocurrency. She also emphasised the difference between crypto-currency and crypto-technology. CEO of Russian Sberbank, German Gref shared with the audience that he had some bitcoin in his personal account. Deputy Minister of Finance, Alexey Moiseev expressed an opinion that there was no point in legalising bitcoin in the country or substituting “normal” money with it.

The Russian leading system of electronic payments, Yandex.Money announced their intentions to work with blockchain technologies and integrate cryptocurrencies. Maria Gracheva, CEO at Yandex.Money, said that the company planned to serve as a mediator between cryptocurrency users in order to facilitate transactions if the regulator officially permitted the use of cryptocurrencies.

The Forum of Innovative Financial Technologies Finnopolis 2015 held on 17-18 of September is hosted in Kazan by the Government of the Republic of Tatarstan and the Central Bank of Russia. The aim of the organisers is to open a dialogue in the FinTech sector between the business community and the state authorities.

Aliona Chapel