During an interview on a televised event in Russia, Vladimir Putin spoke about bitcoin and other virtual currencies. This was the first time the president commented on the nascent payments technology.

“They [bitcoins] are backed by nothing. This money [is backed by nothing], that’s the point, this is the major problem. They are not really linked to anything and backed by nothing,” said Putin.

“However as an accounting unit, these ‘coins’ or whatever are they called, they can be used, and their adoption becomes wider and wider. As some kind of unit in some account, probably, it’s possible. We do not reject anything, but there are serious, really fundamental issues related to its wider usage, at least, today.”

Despite the negative stand on bitcoin, many see the president’s willingness to address the topic as a positive step forward.

Putin also mentioned jokingly that bitcoin would only be useful for unorthodox monetary calculations. His message was lost in translation, as locals assumed he was supporting the use of the digital currency as a unit of calculation.

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, was quick to soften the president’s comments, indicating that he was not speaking directly about bitcoin. Instead, the overall “form of conditional payments” was the main issue that was being dissected during the educational youth forum.

In line with Putin’s views, the Chairman of the Russian Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina highlighted last month that the Central Bank of Russia understands the applications of bitcoin, but also acknowledges its risks.

“It’s the biggest sign of bitcoin legality now in Russia,” ICBIT Trading CEO Aleksey Bragin told CoinDesk.

“It was not forbidden before, but it was impossible to operate any bitcoin business in Russia (no bank accounts, to start with), and mining was always a gray area.”