Russian President Vladmir Putin has reportedly offered some much-needed optimism to crypto advocates regarding the national crypto scene, which is sailing through rough waters with the latest ban push. 

Specifically, the strongman leader reportedly shared via a Jan 26 video conference with members of the Russian authority, claiming that he would prefer to begin the discussion by talking about the center topic of attention at the moment – crypto regulations. 

“Of course, we also have certain competitive advantages here, especially in the so-called mining. I mean the surplus of electricity and the well-trained personnel available in the country.”

As revealed by analysts in spring last year, the price of electricity in Russia stood at $0.06 for every kilowatt-hour for household use and $0.08 in terms of business usage. 

As a comparison, in France, the price of a kWh of electricity is $0.2 for domestic use and $0.14 for business – which is four times higher than in Russia. 

He further urged for the nation’s Central bank to hold talks with his government in the upcoming future, in an attempt to achieve a consensus on the use of crypto.

On January 20th, Russia’s central bank reportedly rolled out a report regarding a proposal they generated for a blanket ban on countrywide crypto trading and mining. 

The report claimed that the risks associated with crypto are “much higher for emerging markets, including Russia.”

Russia’s Central Bank has reportedly also expressed their worries related to crypto for a while now. In December last year, Central Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina issued a statement, claiming that “We cannot welcome investments into cryptocurrencies”.