On Saturday Oct. 21st—just two weeks after a top Russian banking authority hinted that Bitcoin exchanges would be banned in the country—Russian President Vladmir Putin released five Presidential orders related to the regulation of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
National regulations have been proposed as mechanisms to reduce scams and crime facilitated by cryptocurrencies, but in the case of Russia it may be tied up in the country's alleged plans to launch a national cryptocurrency.
Putin also called for proposals for a special regulatory platform known as a "sandbox"—where blockchain developers can basically demonstrate new technologies or applications to the Bank of Russia so they can be regulated appropriately—before the end of the year.
Blockchain is simply a decentralized technology to link and secure records for cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are basically money based in cryptography rather than backed by a trusted third party (like a government) or a commodity (like gold). They exist entirely online as a sort of peer-to-peer based equation called a blockchain. It's all rather mystifying.
This website breaks it down nicely: https://blockgeeks.com/guides/what-is-cryptocurrency/