When it comes to the blockchain, Russia is a very complex country. The political positions on this matter depend on who talks to the media. A few days ago, Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin mentioned in a meeting of his high-ranking cabinet (in which Herman Gref, president of the most significant Russian bank: ‘Sberbank’ participated) the position he sustains regarding the use of blockchain technologies for the development of the country:[1]
“Colleagues and citizens of the country may ask: Why do we need all this? We have oil, gas, coals, metals of all kinds … everything! (…) But we need to further advance. This is what we need, and we have to work for this”
He urged his government cabinet to speed up the march with the use of blockchain technologies by preparing professionally trained staff to work in this area.
For some time now, President Putin has also talked about the nation’s strategic interest in issuing its own cryptocurrency: the CryptoRuble. A kind of Rubble “Thether”, backed by Russian Government[2].
According to News Channel Russia Today, “The amendments proposed by the draft law … codify the digital financial asset as a legal means of payment on the territory of Russia” Such law was encouraged by Mr. Putin and submitted by a Communist Party MP, Rizvan Kurbanov
Likewise, following Putin’s interest, the Russian Blockchain Association also announced an ICO for a “system of guarantees for investment in cryptocurrency”. According to words by the head of the department for the development of electronic commerce and remote banking services Globex Alexander Mineev, the ICO had an accelerated but careful development:[3]
“We assume that the project will start in March, then further development of its development strategy will begin” said Alexander Mineev
Russia also expressed its interest in the development of an official online payment platform based on blockchain technology. It might be developed with the support of Vnesheconombank’s. According to an official announcement, Kaliningrad governor Anton Alkikhanov believes a business agreement is of the utmost importance to accomplish Russia’s overall vision as a country:[4]
“We are confident that Vnesheconombank’s competence in the area of blockchain technology will enable us in the region to improve the quality of management decisions,”
Other advances that demonstrate Russia’s “love” for blockchain are, for example, an announcement of its adoption as an instrument to optimize its citizen voting platform[5] ‘Active Citizen’ in non-strategic matters
Also, on March 5, 2018, Russia announced the implementation of blockchain technologies for exit-polls at the Presidential elections, providing a transparent, reliable and hack-proof system.[6]
“Our project provides for storage of the data that we receive during exit polls at polling stations in a special blockchain bank. This will prevent any external changes to the information, decrease the effectiveness of hacker attacks and
