Russian political party pushes to legalize bitcoin

Russia is known for its hardline stance against bitcoin, but one political party is looking to change all that.

The Party of Growth, a right cause party representing the liberal free market economy and democracy, is pushing not only for the country to legalize bitcoin mining but also for the Russian government to officially recognize bitcoin property rights.

More than 2 million people in Russia already have their own bitcoin wallets, party leader Titov Boris told Russian language news agency TASS. Boris said bitcoin and the underlying blockchain technology could help to the country’s struggling economy.

“Russia can take advantage of the difficult economic situation Russia is dealing with today by opening up to the blockchain technology,” the party leader told the news outlet.