Blockchain.com, a major cryptocurrency wallet and blockchain data provider, plans to support ruble (RUB), the national currency of Russia, though major exchange such as Binance has introduced the Russian ruble, there is still no law authorizing circulation of crypto in Russia.
On May 20, it has been reported that Blockchain.com announced its long-term roadmap, “The next era of crypto and 1B wallets by 2030.” In a post authored by Peter Smith, the CEO and co-founder of Blockchain.com, the firm highlighted the addition of the Russian ruble as part of its mission to grow its current user base of about 50 million crypto wallets to 1 billion accounts by 2030.
However, according to the post, Blockchain.com will launch Russian ruble support “in the coming weeks,” as the planned launch comes in response to an apparent demand to trade crypto from a large number of Russian users on Blockchain.com.
https://t.co/jPlYmaFcX7 announces support for the Russian ruble despite reports that the country may criminalize crypto violations with 7 years in prison https://t.co/7ou1ENY0lO — Cointelegraph (@Cointelegraph) May 21, 2020
The firm said:
“We’ll be one of only a handful of exchanges that support the Russian Ruble. Russian users already make up a large portion of our traffic and exchange volume. We’re excited to make it easier for Russian users to trade crypto in their local currency.”
Smith explained that the Russian ruble will become the fifth supported fiat currency on Blockchain.com.
Russia’s national currency will join:
The United States dollar
The British pound
Euro
The Turkish lira
Blockchain.com is one of the world’s largest crypto companies, responsible for 27% of all Bitcoin (BTC) transactions since 2012. The firm’s decision to list the Russian ruble comes soon after Binance, the world’s largest crypto exchange, silently launched fiat ruble trading in October 2019.
At the time, Changpeng Zhao (CZ), the CEO of Binance, said that Russia was among the top 10 markets for Binance.
Thus, Blockchain.com’s ruble listing news comes soon after another United Kingdom-based crypto firm Wirex enabled a new crypto feature for Russian people on May 19, as it announced the launch of crypto purchases with fiat credit and debit cards in Russia.
Wirex is now better than ever in #Russia! 🎉🇷🇺 Verified Wirex customers in Russia can now top-up with their bank-issued credit or debit card to their Wirex account in order to quickly and easily buy digital currencies (such as #BTC #ETH #LTC #XRP #DAI #WXT) on the platform. pic.twitter.com/WIDLPSwEQL — Wirex (@wirexapp) May 19, 2020
Source: Cointelegraph | Image: Reuters