MOSCOW: Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said on Monday that cryptocurrencies should be traded only by professional investors, not in the mainstream.

“Professional market participants should work with crypto-currencies, not ordinary people,” Siluanov said in an interview with Rossiya 24, a Russian state TV channel.

Russian authorities agreed in October to regulate the cryptocurrency market and pledged to set out how this regulation would work by the end of the year.

Bitcoin BTC=BTSP, a well-known virtual currency which emerged in mid-2010, is increasingly popular worldwide as it promises substantial profits. One bitcoin last traded at around $14,200 BTC=BTSP, up from its initial price of less than $1.

Israel to ban bitcoin firms: Israel’s markets regulator will propose regulation to ban companies based on bitcoin and other digital currencies from trading on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, Shmuel Hauser, the chairman of the Israel Securities Authority (ISA) said on Monday.

Hauser told the Calcalist business conference he will bring the proposal to the ISA board next week. If approved, it would be subject to a public hearing and then the stock exchange bylaws would need to be amended.

“If we have a company that their main business is digital currencies we would not allow it. If already listed, its trading will be suspended,” Hauser said, adding the ISA must find the appropriate regulation for such companies.

Hauser did not identify any companies that would be affected by his ban, but at least two firms listed on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) now describe digital currencies or the technology behind them as essential to their business: Blockchain Mining and Fantasy Network.

Shares of Blockchain, which on Sunday changed its name from Natural Resources, have soared some 5,000 per cent in the past few months since it announced it would shift its focus from mining for gold and iron to mining cryptocurrencies.

It was down 4.2pc in afternoon trading on Monday. Blockchain was not immediately available for comment.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2017