Bitcoin: The Cyprus-based online electronic payment system operator Qiwi is planning to launch a Russian version of the bitcoin open source peer-to-peer ‘cryptocurrency’ next year, according to its CEO and co-owner Sergei Slonon. The so-called bitrouble would use bitcoin’s blockchain technology, he said, and claimed that Qiwi had already held informal meetings with the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) whose official blessing will be needed before the new service can be launched. That is by no means a foregone conclusion, as CBR’s CEO Elvira Nabiullina has repeatedly warned that digital currencies can be used for carrying out suspicious transactions.
Blockchain technology works by creating a huge, decentralized ledger of every bitcoin transaction ever made that is verified and shared by a global network of computers and therefore is virtually tamper-proof, and could well become mainstream in the near future; according to Ars Technica, nine of the world’s biggest financial institutions have partnered with financial technology specialists R3 to develop their own proprietary blockchain.
Qiwi planning Russian version of Bitcoin – the ‘bitrouble’
Source: Kommersant