Qiwi, a leading provider of next-generation payment services in Russia and the CIS, has hinted that it plans to move forward with its digital currency project ‘BitRuble’, amid growing regulatory restrictions in Russia.

In an interview with CoinDesk, Qiwi communications director Konstantin Koltsov said, “This project can be effective for our market, but there are still misunderstandings concerning the technological and regulatory issues."

The company announced the BitRuble project in September – a new cryptocurrency developed using blockchain technology.

Russian authorities initially were not in favor of the trial, however, QIWI is optimistic and says that it has now had the opportunity to explain its interest in bitcoin and the blockchain. Koltsov believes the talks are becoming more constructive and that regulators are starting to educate themselves on the technology. However, these developments are taking place at a very slow rate.

He told CoinDesk that the uncertainty surrounding applications of the technology still remains, such as its proposed 'BitRuble' initiative. Koltsov pointed out that Qiwi has presented its vision for blockchain to the central bank, as well as the state Duma and the Ural Forum of Information Technology and Communications.

Koltsov said Qiwi seeks to help more domestic institutions familiarize with the blockchain technology. He added that the company is open to discuss projects and share data with interested parties that can help it evolve new financial and non-financial products.

"We understand that there can’t be the only one beneficiary in blockchain and crypto-products development and are preparing to bring tech issues to the whole market environment," he told CoinDesk.

Russia has maintained an anti-bitcoin stance for quite some time now and has been making efforts to ban its use in the country – a draft bill seeking bitcoin ban submitted to Duma; bitcoin users likely to be fined 0.5 million rubles or jailed for 2 years. Recently, Russian Presidential Advisor said that accepting bitcoin is a crime, however, he added that the blockchain technology is “amazingly interesting”. The Central Bank of Russia has recently set up a working group to explore the blockchain technology.