The Russian Central Bank wants to hire a crypto specialist
Russia’s central bank has announced it wants to hire a “cryptocurrency” expert – a massive turnaround for the bank, which earlier this year proposed a blanket ban on anything crypto-related.
In a post on the Russian job search platform Headhunter (HH), the central bank wrote that it was looking for a “blockchain developer” with “cryptocurrency” expertise. The bank wants to employ a developer with between one and three years’ experience in the field.
The bank explained that the successful candidate would be charged with “development of analytical material” and “consultation reports” – as well as “proposals for legal changes” to laws related to “digital currencies, distributed ledger technology, decentralized finance and digital financial assets.”
Russian regulators and politicians have often used the term “digital financial assets” as a euphemism for crypto.
The new employee will also be asked to work on “pilot” projects.
Until relatively recently, the bank’s position on crypto was that it should be banned completely – much like the case in China – and that a digital ruble should be released as soon as possible.
But the job posting appears to show a possible departure from this hard-line stance: The bank specifically wants to hear from people with experience with the Bitcoin, Ethereum and Hyperledger Fabric blockchain protocols.
Russian central bank taking a leaf out of Crypto’s book?
The central bank’s position on crypto has softened somewhat in recent months – but it is still at odds with the industry-friendly Ministry of Finance.
The ministry wants to regulate crypto and set limits on how much money citizens can spend on coins during a year. It also wants to legalize – and tax – crypto mining. But the central bank and its longtime governor Elvira Nabiullina have remained adversaries – creating an impasse that even direct intervention by President Vladimir Putin has failed to resolve.
However, the bank has indicated in recent months that it is willing to make some concessions, and may allow certain exporters to sell their goods and services for crypto – provided that these coins “do not enter the Russian economic system.” The bank has also indicated that it may be prepared to drop its opposition to industrial crypto mining.
But hiring a crypto expert may well prove that the bank is now prepared to go a step further – and possibly incorporate technological developments from the crypto world into its own operations.
