Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Communications Nikolai Nikiforov has announced that the Russian state will “quickly” issue its own cryptocurrency, called the “CryptoRuble,” as reported by the Russian publication AIF.

One segment of Nikiforov’s statement, according to CryptoCoinsNews, reads as follows:

I so confidently declare that we will launch the CryptoRuble for one simple reason: if we do not, our neighbors in the Eurasian Economic Community will do it in 2 months.

AIF further clarified that Nikiforov’s statement followed a closed-door meeting at Moscow’s Capital Club between Russian President Vladimir Putin and the city’s political elite, at which the details of the CryptoRuble were discussed at length.

Though reports indicate that the Russian state will be calling the CryptoRuble a “cryptocurrency,” purists are likely to contest such a designation. As Devin Coldewey of TechChrunch, who covered these developments, has written, and as cryptocurrency expert Jacob Eliosoff has previously stated in interviews with Bank Innovation, the CryptoRuble will likely not be the decentralized means of trade that cryptocurrencies are expected to be, and it will therefore lack much of the draw that many crypto enthusiasts see in cryptocurrency.

To be sure, Russia will use blockchain as the basis of the CryptoRuble, though only in part. The intended network will be a hybrid, of sorts, between “both public and private blockchain protocols.”

Details regarding exact technological innovations underpinning the CryptoRuble are not available at this time, though Nikiforov has said it will not be possible to mine the virtual currency. It will be issued and tracked by the Russian government

In summary, the CryptoRuble will not allow its users to trade in anonymity, it will not be mined, it will be taxed, and it will be tracked, regulated, and issued by the Russian government.

Additionally, the minister warned that the Russian government’s intent to develop its own cryptocurrency should not be misconstrued as its endorsement of cryptocurrencies in general, and just one week ago, Russia’s Central Bank announced its intent block websites supporting cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms.

With all these features, and amid all these statements, the international crypto community is left to wonder: what exactly makes the CryptoRuble a cryptocurrency, again?

Read more at: CryptoCoinsNews and TechCrunch.