Russia is adopting a different attitude towards cryptos than China. President Putin has come public saying
"Bitcoin has value but it cannot be used in the Oil trade" I guess Putin didn't still fully grasp the real potential of cryptos as he says
“Cryptocurrency is not supported by anything as of yet. It may exist as a means of payment, but I think it’s too early to say about the oil trade in cryptocurrency.”
But even so, it shows that Russia seems to be adopting a friendly position facing cryptocurrency and it may be having some impact on the industry. Given that China adopted a harsh position towards cryptos, is it possible that miners are relocating from China to Russia? Is it possible for Russia to step up to occupy the former place China had in Bitcoin? I guess this is what is happening, otherwise, Putin wouldn't come public with such a neutral position.
It seems that Putin is walking a fine line between not wanting officials to escape Russia with large amounts of illegally gained money and the fact that Bitcoin is almost impossible to sanction like a lot of other income generation Russia has going on right now. The fact that Bitcoin sits outside the regular banking system controlled by American friendly interests and the fact that Russian hackers can get paid in Bitcoin which is easy to sell are both big positives for the country, more than outweighing the negatives. He has already scared most Russian citizens into the idea that people can be assassinated anywhere in the world, so he doesn't have to fear money running away as much as most other countries like China do.