During the uncertainly prevailed around the potential future of crypto in Russia, one of the executives from the native industry has revealed a likely procedure to be followed by the Russian Central Bank to put a prohibition over the transactions of cryptocurrencies. The CEO of Joys (a local startup for crypto payments) – Andrey Mikhaylishin – stated that the central bank of the country is presently focusing on many likely options to implement a ban over the cryptos, as reported on Friday by Forbes.
Among the potential prohibition methods, one takes account of putting a stop over the payments done through debit cards to the crypto wallets or the exchanges utilizing MCC (merchant category codes), as stated by Mikhaylishin. The report points out that the executive was informed about the respective restriction from the employees operating in the Russian Central Bank. The MCC codes include four-digit numbers utilized by the processors of digital cards such as Mastercard or Visa to define the primary businesses operations of a merchant.
For instance, the transactions of crypto are normally recognized with the MCC code 6051, while the MCC code 5411 is for the grocery stores. As per the report, the Central Bank could simply order the native banks to prohibit the transaction done via MCC code 6051. Although the likely strategy seems to be in a discussion process at present, some figures within the industry have raised questions over such strategy’s efficiency.
A participant of the Russian Committee on blockchain Technologies and Cryptoeconomics – Maria Stankevich – mentioned that the likely MCC-based prohibitions would compel the transparent businesses to quit Russia whereas no impact would be put on the illegitimate exchanges of cryptocurrencies. She elaborated that such malignant people would utilize other codes for their malicious purposes. She recommended that these miscoding restrictions on the providers such as Visa are inadequate to tackle the illegitimate exchanges of cryptocurrency to discontinue their activities.
It has been formerly reported that several gray crypto businesses exist in Russia, with nearly 50 out of them detected in Moscow City, which is a Russian Capital-based financial city. The executive additionally voiced optimism regarding the crypto industry across Russia, signifying that the Central Bank is the sole regulator confronting the adoption of cryptocurrency throughout the country. The executive remarked that crypto restriction cannot be seen as the stance of the whole country as the bank is considered to be a minority in this respect.
