Russia is considering a ban on the use and mining of cryptocurrencies.

The nation wants the technology off Russian territory, saying it has become a threat to financial stability, citizens' wellbeing and monetary sovereignty.

It is the latest threat from governments around the world, which are increasingly seeing the privately operated and highly volatile digital currencies as a potential way to undermine their control of financial and monetary systems.

Russia has not been happy with cryptocurrencies since their inception, linking them to money laundering and the financing of terrorism. However, it gave them legal status in 2020, but banned their use as a means of payment.

Russia’s central bank says the baseless speculation that drives the rapid growth of cryptocurrencies has all the characteristics of a financial pyramid.

It has proposed banning financial institutions from any operations with cryptocurrencies and developing mechanisms to block transactions between cryptocurrencies and fiat currencies.

Russians have an annual cryptocurrency transaction volume of about AU$6.9 billion, the bank said.