Data center operators have no problem with Russia’s new crackdown on crypto

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BitRiver, the largest cryptocurrency colocation service provider in Russia, is unlikely to be affected by another Bank of Russia crypto crackdown, according to the company’s CEO.

On September 15, the Russian central bank announced that the authority had started working with local banks to slow payments to cryptocurrency exchanges.

Sergey Shvetsov, the Bank of Russia’s first deputy governor, reportedly said the regulator is now considering amending the law to more clearly ban the use of cryptocurrency and introduce additional administrative and criminal responsibilities.

While Shvetsov did not say exactly what type of crypto transactions would be restricted under the new regulatory crackdown, the official noted that the bank wanted to suspend payments to crypto exchanges in order to protect customers from emotional crypto purchases.

BitRiver founder and CEO Igor Runets told Cointelegraph that the new restrictions planned by Russia’s central bank are unlikely to affect any of its clients, as the company does not operate a crypto mining facility but instead provides data centers for foreign companies.

We do not send crypto to exchanges, we do not have any of our own equipment, and this banking move will not affect our clients as they operate in foreign jurisdictions, Runets noted.

According to Runets, BitRiver has long awaited strict crypto policies from the Russian government, recommending its Russian customers to use BitRiver crypto data centers by setting up a foreign company. Now we have no more problems, says Runets.

From time to time, we hear that customers want to set up a business in Russia, so that it is more convenient to deliver material from abroad. But even for them, the Bank of Russia doesn’t really care, since the cryptocurrency doesn’t go into the account of a Russian company, he added.

Related: Russian Duma Wants To Regulate Crypto Mining As A Business

The Bank of Russia’s new anti-crypto measures come months after the country passed its main crypto law on digital financial assets in January.

According to Nikita Soshnikov, former senior lawyer at Deloitte CIS, the central bank crackdown is part of a move to juxtapose private cryptocurrencies with the digital ruble, the country’s central bank’s (CBDC) digital currency project. . Russia has officially confirmed its intention to launch a CBDC before 2030 as one of the country’s main digitization projects.

I expect new official documents and legislative proposals in which transactions authorized with a digital ruble will be opposed to illegal crypto transactions, Soshnikov said.

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