“It opens up new opportunities for the region”

From September 1, the Bank of Russia may approve a program of an experimental legal regime for such trades. Official crypto exchanges in the country can be created for a period of 2 years under an experimental legal regime. This was announced by State Duma deputy from Tatarstan Airat Farrakhov, noting that Tatarstan today is the best region for opening the first crypto exchange.

In his opinion, the leading regions of Russia, primarily Moscow and St. Petersburg, can compete with our republic in the struggle for the right to become pioneers. The prospect of becoming a platform for the first Russian crypto exchange opens up opportunities for the region to make a huge leap forward in several areas at once — this is an innovative activity that allows payments to be made on a global scale, as well as the development of enterprises engaged in cybersecurity and software developments.

“In connection with the sanctions, the Russian economy is experiencing great problems, in particular with the implementation of payments between friendly countries,” said Farrakhov. “And the development of the crypto exchange will be a serious step in this direction. But this is a tactical task that is being solved in the course of the implementation of the crypto exchange project. And there are also strategic goals: a new type of economic activity is emerging, which has not yet existed. This will ensure the formation of new professional qualities among employees.”

When asked by Realnoe Vremya what prerequisites Tatarstan has for the successful implementation of the crypto exchange project, the deputy listed: developed infrastructure, the presence of technoparks, Innopolis, as well as the development strategy of the republic itself.

“This may become a good driver for the development of its IT industry”

Yan Art, a financial expert, member of the RSPP (Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs) Commission on Banks and Banking, Candidate of Economics believes that the opening of the first cryptocurrency exchange in itself will be an extremely positive event, and if it opens in Tatarstan, it will be a serious impetus for the further development of the republic’s economy.

Yan Art stressed that the crypto exchange has huge differences from the usual one, and therefore new specialists and even new professions will be required for its organisation and operation, primarily in the field of IT technologies:

“The crypto exchange is also an organisation of electronic trading, the principle of organising trading is the same as on a classical exchange, but the essence of assets is completely different. Therefore, for Tatarstan, the opening of a cryptocurrency exchange can be a good driver for the development of its IT industry.”

At the same time, the expert of the publication noted, it is important that after the legalisation of mining in Russia, the interests of citizens who consume electric energy are protected by controlling the consumption of electricity for mining in residential buildings.

“If the exchange will trade stablecoins, it will be reasonable”

Andrey Kochetkov, a Realnoe Vremya expert and private investment consultant, is more careful in his statements about the prospects of cryptocurrency exchange trading.

“The crypto market is a very complex entity,” he argues. “Let’s start with that the cryptocurrency has no economic background, it is the work of some computing power to create a unique cryptographic code. The so-called stablecoins are of great relevance — they are a crypto asset backed by real assets. And if the exchange will trade stablecoins, it will be reasonable.”

But the very appearance of a crypto exchange on the territory of Tatarstan, in his opinion, in any case, will be useful for the republic primarily because its opening will ensure the emergence of new jobs.

“If cryptocurrency trading is allowed on the territory of the Russian Federation, then the appearance of such an exchange will most likely not be a completely private enterprise, but will involve some kind of state participation or strong state control. Such platform may turn out to be more stable than many exchanges in the world, which are essentially offshore enterprises that are not controlled in any way.”

For the legalisation of cryptocurrencies and the crypto market, Kochetkov sees only advantages in opening a crypto exchange, but in his cautious assessments of the prospects of a new enterprise, he proceeds from that the cryptocurrency market today is built mainly on trust and interest in these assets. He stressed that he has a very high volatility on which one can earn, but they can easily lose a lot of money:

“For individuals, this is probably an unnecessary temptation and they should not give in to it right away, it is better to study the functioning of this market, because cryptocurrencies, unlike stocks or just currencies, are a completely different sphere, no economic principles work there.”

Inna Serova

Tatarstan