Russia Seems Towards Regulating Cryptocurrency Trading

The Russian Finance Ministry (MinFin) is mulling over the sale and purchase of cryptocurrency trading in the Russian Federation. The news broke out via Russian news outlet INTERFAX.RU on June 21.

The report says that the Russian Federation is in the process of making the cryptocurrency circulation draft law. The preparation also involves the discussion of regulating crypto trading business in the country.

Alexei Moiseyev, Deputy Finance Minister mentioned to the press officers that the concept is discussed, however, the final decision has not yet taken. He further expressed that the impending decision is a compromise and indicated that “Financial Action Task Force urged Russia to embrace cryptocurrency bill and to regulate it by the end of 2019.”

On June 19, the central Moscow-based lower house of the Russian Federal Assembly, the State Duma (Gosduma) presented its positive outlook towards the acceptance of digital assets. The plenary session mentioned that the adoption of the country’s cryptocurrency bill “On Digital Financial Assets” (DFA), is expected in the second reading of the approaching weeks of July. The statement was given by the local senior finance officer from the Russian Federation to the Russian government-backed media group TASS. At that time, it was also disclosed by Moiseyev about the adoption of separate legislation on initial coin offerings (ICO) which the authorities had approved as a part of Russia’s law on crowdfunding.

Earlier on June 15, TASS also reported about the possibilities of exploring the opportunities of launching Russia’s central bank digital currency (CBDC). The updates to the media have been given by Elvira Nabiullina, head of Russia’s central bank. Further, it is also cleared that it would take time and cannot be realized in the imminent time.

Pres. Vladimir Putin is Optimistic Towards Cryptocurrency Adoption

Possibly, the latest move towards the adoption of digital assets has come after the order placed by country’s president Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin on Feb 27, who asked the government to adopt the regulation by July 1, 2019.

As per the information, Pres. Putin insisted the overseers to create the regulatory framework concerning the adoption of cryptocurrency and related federal legislation. The objective is to construct the digital economy and to issue regulation towards the civil-law digital settlements. The acceptance would also help the Russian economy to boom and open up various financial resources based on digital technologies.

 It is interesting to note that during May 2018, the Russian Federation introduced a bill which prohibited the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in the country. However, with time and knowledge, the countries watchdogs have started to change their perception towards the adoption of digital assets as a means of payment. Russia’s positive outlook towards the gold 2.0 would definitely impact other countries who are still living in a state of xenophobia.

Image by Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay

Tags:

Russian Finance Ministry (MinFin), Cryptocurrency Trading, Russian Federation, Duma Financial Market Committee, DFA, TASS, Financial Action Task Force (FATF), Initial Coin Offerings (ICO), Elvira Nabiullina.