Bitcoin would have become a good tool in the hands of artificial intelligence, if it intended to take over the world, Russia’s Economic Development Minister Maxim Oreshkin said, speaking at the International Festival of Youth and Students in Sochi.
"If there really was an artificial intelligence that wanted to take over the world, bitcoins would be the first thing to invent for it," the minister said at the panel session.
He compared investment in bitcoin with gambling and stressed that in case with crypto currency there are more risks.
"As for bitcoin: if you look at how the value of this asset fluctuates, it's dozens of percent points up, dozens down. A normal asset that can bring money to eligible investors should not have such characteristics, since it's worse than a casino," Oreshkin said.
According to the minister, an investor who does not know how to manage risks should not have the opportunity to invest in instruments with such volatility.
On October 15, Russian Communication Minister Nikolai Nikiforov said that President Vladimir Putin had ordered the swift launching of a "crypto-ruble." According to Nikiforov, the currency would use "Russian cryptography" and would be impossible to "mine" like bitcoin because it would be "a closed model with a definite volume of regulated emission."
Bitcoin launched in January 2009 is the most well-known cryptocurrency in the world. Bitcoins represent "virtual money," being a program online code not regulated by any country or banking supervision authority. It can guarantee complete anonymity of a person or a group of people using it.
Advisor on macroeconomics to the CEO of the 'Opening-Broker' brokerage house, economist Sergey Hestanov, speaking to Vestnik Kavkaza, noted that that Russian authorities, which intend to start regulating financial transactions with cryptocurrencies, are going to try an experiment. "The fact is that cryptocurrencies is a new phenomenon, it's hard to even say how serious it is. It's likely that the authorities decided to see what will happen. It is to be expected that the experiment will be unsuccessful: cryptocurrencies are attractive due to lack of control by the state, and the official cryptocurrency is likely to be of no interest. On the other hand, the experiment is interesting in any case, and a negative result is also a result," he said.
The way the financial ministry currently represents the cryptoruble does not carry any particular risks or benefits. "If it is in the context that is declared - control, identification, then it will be a non-cash ruble. Of course, it is much more convenient for enterprises to pay in non-cash, but it will have no influence on economic processes," Sergey Hestanov explained.
The professor at the department of the stock market and investments at the Higher School of Economics, Alexander Abramov, linked the idea of creating a Russian cryptocurrency with integration projects. "I think this comes from the project of the Eurasian Economic Union as an attempt to make a new state cryptocurrency, which would be interesting for the EEU member countries. I think it as an experiment, because no state has yet expressed willingness to issue state cryptocurrency, as it is a tool for private transactions," he agreed with Sergei Hestanov's point of view.
"It is possible that the cryptoruble will speed up the process of economic integration of the EEU. Perhaps, it will be interesting for producers and consumers of products when they create a common commodity market with a new currency. The risks are clearer: risks of avoiding taxation, risks of negative influence of the parallel currency on the ruble and other classical currencies. In general, this cryptocurrency will be fraught with speculations among significant segments of the population," Alexander Abramov drew attention.
In connection with the actual innovation in this area, first of all the Russian government should create a positive precedent for the interaction of the state with cryptocurrency market, which is free of state control. "They need to regulate the degree of participation of unsophisticated people in transactions with the cryptocurrency, so that cryptocurrencies are not used to avoid taxes and, especially, for any terrorist purposes," the professor at the department of the stock market and investments at the Higher School of Economics concluded.
