Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Yakovlev announced the possible launch of cryptocurrency trading in Russia:

"It's not necessarily banks, yes, it's more about professional participants. Super-qualified — this can include individuals as well, but with a very, very, very high level of qualification," noted Yakovlev.

"If all these three factors come together, then perhaps there will be some kind of proposal, and we will present it to the government platform. For now, this is a discussion within the Ministry of Finance in conjunction with the Central Bank and market participants," explained the deputy minister.

"It's still too early to talk about this. For now, it's in such an initial stage that it cannot justify or answer all the questions regarding what it is, 'a' — possibly, and 'b' — risks can be mitigated in terms of both security and client rights protection. Allowing digital currency into internal circulation is a completely different story and requires much more meticulous work, which we are conducting," concluded Yakovlev.