After a recent meeting with the president, Roman Trotsenko became one of the main supporters of bitcoins. The billionaire told Forbes why cryptocurrencies are important for Russia and what his disagreements with Elvira Nabiullina are
In late September, Vladimir Putin invited major businessmen to the Kremlin to discuss how to overcome sanctions. Roman Trotsenko proposed to legalize cryptocurrencies, which caused a barrage of criticism from the head of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina, who was also present at the meeting.
“I was in favor of creating an exchange platform that would allow to work not only with bitcoin, but in general with new instruments,” the billionaire explained in a conversation with Forbes. Thus, Russia will have an alternative form of payment for foreign trade and services.
The sanctions have made it difficult to invest in dollars, the businessman said. A platform that attracts investments in the form of cryptocurrencies could mitigate the impact of sanctions. If an “investment amnesty” is carried out, the inflow of investments to Russia could be from $5 to $10 billion, Trotsenko believes.
The billionaire sees three possible scenarios for the legalization of cryptocurrencies: their recognition as currencies, a type of derivative securities (financial derivatives) or a digital commodity. “The latter is the most complicated,” Trotsenko notes: there will be a question of how to charge VAT. He himself considers the derivatives option to be the most acceptable.
In early September, Nabiullina said that the Central Bank will not allow the legalization of cryptocurrencies. The rush of interest in them is fraught with financial pyramids, and the anonymity of transactions creates a risk of using cryptocurrencies to finance terrorism.
“That’s exactly the opposite!” – Trotsenko objects. According to him, every transaction, as well as its beneficiaries, are forever stored on the blockchain. And “crowds of citizens” are already in the cryptocurrency market. “It’s better to know it, account for it and tax it,” the billionaire urges.
The owner of a network of 14 airports and himself is investing in a service to sell airline tickets using blockchain technology. Trotsenko did not disclose details of the project, but noted that he has already faced the fact that “there are physically few specialists on this topic in Russia.
Trotsenko believes that blockchain and cryptocurrencies are the technologies of the future for the next 30 years. As long as the circulation of cryptocurrencies will be qualified as “something illegal, shameful or uninteresting, we will lag behind,” warns the billionaire: “It already exists and will exist regardless of what the Central Bank thinks about it.”
