Russia and China are going to release national cryptocurrencies. But why?

Recently it became known that China was going to create a national cryptocurrency, for which the state is responsible. According to Chinese officials, this is the main merit of crypto. After all, bitcoin and altcoins are not tied to any values, here the course lasts as long as someone believes in cryptomonettes.



Well, its own cryptocurrency will be provided by the state in almost the same way as the usual fiat yuan. Interestingly, Chinese officials believe that their own digital currency stabilizes the national fiat currency. This, in turn, should improve the financial situation of the country.



The Chinese consider the fact that it is not based on a blockchain platform to be an asset of its coin. China creates its own infrastructure. Director of the Institute of Digital Currency Research at the People's Bank of China, Yao Qian, believes that the rate of a coin like Bitcoin is pure market speculation. It cannot be recognized as a real currency, since it does not have a peg to any values.



Jiang said that, in his opinion, working with free cryptocurrencies not only does not accelerate, but even hinders the development of the economy. For example, one of the factors for such inhibition is the limited emission of the same Bitcoin.







As far as can be understood, China’s own national cryptocurrency will be a “engine of economic development” for China. In any case, the officials of this country think so.



And what about Russia?



The other day, the Minister of Communications and Mass Communications of the Russian Federation, Nikolai Nikiforov, said that Russia is going to release its own cryptocurrency - crypto-ruble. According to the minister, this decision was made by the President of the Russian Federation.



The idea of ​​creating a national Russian cryptocurrency has been around for a long time, the same Nikiforov voiced it back in early September. Then he said that Bitcoin is unlikely to be legalized in the Russian Federation, since it is based on Western cryptographic algorithms.



“Bitcoin, ether - these are all cryptocurrencies based on foreign cryptography. Russia has its own school of cryptography. I believe that we can easily make a crypto unit, some kind of tool based on blockchain technology, and clearly state the set of rules within which operations are carried out, ” Nikiforov said .



Crypto-ruble, he said, will be launched soon. “I confidently declare that we will launch a crypto-ruble, for one simple reason: if we don’t do this, then our EurAsEC neighbors will do it in two months, ” the minister said .



But why does Russia need crypto-ruble?



Many experts believe that this is just a tribute to fashion. “When such projects are launched in a hurry, then from there, the desire to get into the market sticks out like an awl from the bag. Our chief commander was told about cryptocurrencies, and he, “having gotten into the digital economy,” demanded that we have no worse than theirs. In Nikiforov’s initiative, I see just a thoughtless desire to report to the authorities, so that it would be sufficiently how his wishes are promptly fulfilled, ”said Alexey Raevsky, the CEO of Zecurion.



It is strange that Nikiforov explains the need for the prompt introduction of a crypto-ruble by the fact that neighboring countries can also introduce a national cryptocurrency. How can this affect Russia? It's not clear yet.



The economic feasibility of introducing a crypto ruble is questionable. The main attraction of cryptocurrency in decentralization, is that it is free coins with a high degree of anonymity. At the same time, cryptocurrencies can be minted. Nikiforov said that the mining of a crypto-ruble would be impossible. It turns out that its emission will be under state control.



Cryptocurrency, by definition, must be anonymous and decentralized. If, however, the state issues it, and all control levers will be with the officials, neither a decentralized nor an anonymous crypto-ruble will exist. Accordingly, it is difficult to call it cryptocurrency. Digital money - yes, quite. But then it is not clear why Russia needs another kind of digital money.







The problem is also that the state will provide the national cryptocurrency (Russia, China or any other country). And here the main question is whether the population will trust such guarantees. After all, if policies can be freely changed, then this is likely to be carried out regularly.



One more thing - binding to the national currency . That the digital yuan, that the digital ruble, is likely to be tightly tied to the fiat currency rate. And, most likely, this course will be 1: 1.



So "crypto", rather, is simply a non-cash ruble, which is not at all something unusual. But if banks carry out operations with fiat currencies, then what will happen to crypto-currency? The government will probably force banks to develop special technical tools for working with the new coin. And here is another problem: even if sooner or later in the Russian Federation it will be possible to start working with a new digital currency, then it will be almost impossible to pay it off with a representative of another state. Here you can use the cue ball to pay for goods or services even in the Russian Federation, at least in Uruguay. But "crypto"? It is unlikely that this will be a freely convertible currency.



It is likely that the initiative of the Ministry of Communications and Communications of the Russian Federation so far represents only a purely sporting interest for officials who want to introduce another innovation, but quickly. There are a lot of digital currencies in the Russian Federation. This "Yandex-money", and Webmoney, and Qiwi. If “crypto-ruble” is added to them, Russia will not receive anything and will not lose it.



What about the course? Most likely, it will be installed artificially. In addition, officials will have to figure out where this ruble can be used: in public procurement, in calculations in some government structures or somewhere else. Voluntary use of it is unlikely to be, because the advantages of this currency are too obvious.



In general, for the time being, officials - that Russia and China - do not explain very clearly why national cryptocurrencies are for countries, which, in fact, are not cryptocurrencies. As mentioned above, this is a tribute to fashion and the desire to introduce a new-fashioned initiative first. When these projects are implemented (and there are almost no doubts that they will be implemented), state funds will be spent, I think, considerable ones, additional technical and human resources will be required. Do I need it? It is difficult to answer.