Ulmart to launch Bitcoin payment service this year, once interfered with by the Russian Central Bank

Golden Finance News - Russian e-commerce giant Ulmart plans to start accepting Bitcoin payments from September 1, 2017. The online retailer actually considered accepting Bitcoin payments in early February 2017, but was intervened by the Russian Central Bank.

(Ulmart plans to start accepting Bitcoin payments from September 1, 2017. Image source: Golden Finance)

Founded in 2008 and headquartered in Saint Petersburg, Ulmart serves more than 240 cities in the Russian Federation.

In a press release published on Wednesday, Ulmart added that it has been monitoring Russia’s bitcoin regulatory environment for several years.

“Ulmart has been closely following the development of the Bitcoin market and regulatory environment in Russia since March 2014,” said Dmitry Kostygin, chairman of Ulmart. “As we apply blockchain technology to our anti-counterfeiting operations, we see that the Bitcoin blockchain is becoming more popular.”

Notably, the company added that it has “not yet decided which products can be purchased with Bitcoin,” suggesting that all products sold on its website lack a clear Bitcoin payment plan. High-priced items may be the first to implement Bitcoin payments.

Without the intervention of the Russian Central Bank, Ulmart might have already started accepting Bitcoin payments. Kostygin told Bloomberg in February:

“We have seen some requests from customers for bitcoin payments, so we were seriously considering it. But with the central bank’s intervention, we had to stop this feature.”

Then, he was asked if the central bank had given any explanation as to why it had blocked Ulmart from accepting bitcoin payments earlier this year.

Kostikin said:

“The Russian Central Bank declares that Bitcoin is an alternative currency and any activity related to Bitcoin transactions is suspicious.”

Since then, Russian authorities have gradually moved from finding suspicious evidence of Bitcoin to recognizing and regulating the legality of Bitcoin.

In the past, Russia has taken a tough stance against Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Last year, the Russian Ministry of Finance even introduced legislation to ban the use of Bitcoin and require criminal charges with jail time for offenders. However, this year, Russia's Deputy Finance Minister hinted that Bitcoin and other digital currencies may be recognized as legal in 2018.

Ulmart Chief International Officer Brian Kean began:

“We welcome the Russian government’s scrutiny of Bitcoin technology and look forward to cooperating in this regard.”