After going back and forth on how to deal with digital assets for months, Russia’s government and the nation’s central bank have decided to draft a bill on recognizing them as an analog of currencies. The authorities have until February 18th to present the draft.
- The world’s largest country by landmass has had a rather indecisive approach towards the cryptocurrency industry dating a few years ago.
- Most recently, some of the governing bodies had disputes on how to tackle them. On the one hand, Russia’s central bank proposed a total ban on anything crypto, citing the enhanced volatility that could threaten the country’s financial system.
- On the other, though, the nation’s finance ministry preferred a softer approach by implementing regulations instead of a ban.
- As per a report by local newspaper Kommersant, the authorities have decided to take the second approach and will prepare a draft law, by February 18th, to definite crypto as “an analog of currencies,” instead of a digital financial asset.
- According to a government statement, the purpose of this regulation is to integrate digital currencies into the financial system and “ensure control over cash flows in the circuit of credit institutions.”
- Digital asset transactions will be possible only through legalized intermediaries, such as exchanges and P2P platforms, and banks. They will require complete identification.
- The early stages of the draft law suggest that all crypto transactions of over 600,000 rubles (about $8,000) will have to be declared or risk being labeled as a criminal offense.
- It’s worth noting that the country’s president – Vladimir Putin – seemed in favor of regulations instead of a ban as well and backed crypto mining.
- Russia’s population is among the most active on the crypto market, with recent Kremlin estimations showing that they own over $200 billion worth of digital assets.