No Truth in Reports that Russia’s Finance Ministry Wants Crypto to Become ‘Legal Tender’

cryptonews.com:

Reports stating that the Russian Ministry of Finance now “recommends using cryptocurrencies as legal tender” appear to be very wide of the mark. 

A number of crypto-related media outlets have made the claim that the ministry has pushed for a move that would put tokens on the same footing as the fiat ruble. However, the sources these outlets have used to back their claims do not appear to give any backing to such claims. 

The confusion appears to have stemmed from a report from the media outlet Kommersant, which claims to have obtained access to an updated version of a long-awaited piece of crypto legislation that senior parliamentarians say will be debated in the State Duma before the end of the current (Spring) session.

But nowhere in the Kommersant report is it suggested that crypto could become “legal tender” – in the way that bitcoin (BTC) was adopted in El Salvador.

Instead, the media outlet appears to indicate that the ministry is pushing for “digital currencies” to be legalized as a form of payment in certain cases, although the ministry explained that in such instances, such “digital currencies” are “not the monetary unit of the Russian Federation.”

In El Salvador, bitcoin has the same legal standing as the fiat United States dollar. Allowing crypto to be used in payments in Russia would not grant tokens like BTC parity with the ruble.

Kommersant is a highly respected media outlet, but the ministry has not even confirmed that the document is genuine. Instead, the “authenticity of the document was confirmed by two Kommersant sources” with knowledge of the crypto “industry” and the ministry “did not immediately provide a comment.”

Although the ministry did update its bill – which it first unveiled back in February – last