German Gref, the former Russian Minister of Economy and Trade and currently President of Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe, stated that bitcoins should not be banned.

At Finnopolis 2015, German Gref spoke in the favour of virtual currency, says TASS. The President of the third-largest bank in Europe admitted he is one of the victims of the decline in bitcoin price because he owned “a little” bitcoins, too. According to Mr. Gref, bitcoin is the only currency in the world that has lost more of its value than the ruble.

Moreover, Gref said that cryptocurrencies should not be banned in Russia. “We as professionals in this area believe that bitcoin is absolutely not the thing that should be banned”. As for the decline in price, Gref says that “Unfortunately, all currencies suffer from same diseases”.

German Gref served as the Minister of Economy and Trade of Russian Federation from 2000 to 2007. In November, 2007 he was elected President of Sberbank, the largest bank in Russia.

In July, Vladimir Putin said it was possible to use bitcoins “for some operations”. He admitted that he had discussed the digital currency with the head of the Russian Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, stating that Russian authorities would not reject bitcoin but “there are serious and real problems” with its acceptance. In April, Elvira Nabiullina herself spoke favourably of bitcoin.  

Alexey Tereshchenko