Russians Aware of BitcoinDivided on Proposed Crypto Ban, Poll Finds.



A third of the respondents support the central bank’s proposal while an equal number of participants in the survey oppose it. A new survey has indicated that Russians who have heard about cryptocurrency are deeply divided in their opinions on the recently suggested ban on operations with digital assets.

Bank of Russia’s Call to Prohibit Cryptocurrencies Backed by 32% of Russians Who Know Bitcoin.

Citing threats to the nation’s financial stability and risks for its citizens, Bank of Russia proposed a blanket ban on a range of crypto activities including the issuing, using, trading, and mining of coins like bitcoin. Amid ongoing discussions on the future of digital currencies, the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (Vtsiom) has published a new study measuring the attitudes of Russian citizens towards crypto assets and operations with them. The prohibition has been opposed by other institutions and the government has reportedly prepared a roadmap to regulate, not ban crypto operations. Russian citizens have invested 5 trillion rubles in crypto (over $67 billion), the head of the State Duma Financial Market Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, announced in December.

The growing popularity of cryptocurrencies has forced Moscow to take steps to regulate the market. The share of those who are totally unaware of its existence has shrunk by 11 points to just 19%.

According to the Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain (Racib), over 17 million Russians have cryptocurrency wallets. It comes as officials are trying to put the country’s crypto space in order, not without disagreements between regulators.

According to the poll, the majority of Russians (64%) have heard about bitcoin and 17% have good knowledge of the cryptocurrency, an increase of four percentage points in comparison with the data from a 2017 survey.

News source from. bitcoin.com