Nikolai Arefiev, a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and vice-chairman of the Duma's committee on economic policy, innovative development and entrepreneurship, claimed that cryptocurrencies were created in order to hide large offshore assets from the government.

If cryptos such as bitcoin (BTC) had emerged by 1994, Russia would have been "fully destroyed" so far because it would have lost all its capital offshore, Arefiev stated, speaking at a recent press conference of local media agency, National News Service.

The 70-year-old official has further suggested that it is useless for a government to attempt to be involved in cryptocurrencies' operations, emphasizing that those jurisdictions that decided to ban cryptocurrencies have chosen the easiest way to protect their capital.