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.
I don't see this as crypto friendly statement, but more as a neutral statement. He didn't really specify
in what sense Bitcoin has value, because of course most of them have value, they are traded for christ sake, it's the very definition of value. Saying that they don't have value would just be lying at this point.
But to go further on what he meant; like he instantly withdrawed his statement just to say: “But I don’t believe it can be used in the oil trade.". That says enough about where we are now imho. Also being neutral to cryptos at this point seems like they are playing mind games between US and Russia. They all know that there could be decentralized solution for value, and that sort of disrupts the current value power balance.