The Ministry of Finance of Russia submitted to the government a draft law on the regulation of cryptocurrencies.

This was announced on Monday, February 21, by the press service of the department.

The document implies the establishment of rules for the circulation of digital assets in the country and is aimed at “forming a legal market” for electronic money, the Ministry of Finance noted.

“The use of digital currencies as a means of payment on the territory of the Russian Federation will continue to be prohibited.

As part of the proposed regulation, digital currencies are considered solely as an investment tool,” the ministry stressed.

The bill fixes the requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges and exchangers.

The work of such companies will be licensed and controlled by the authorized body under the government.

Foreign trading platforms will need to register in Russia to obtain a license.

To protect the interests and rights of citizens, exchanges will be required to inform buyers of cryptocurrencies about the increased risks of such operations.

The Ministry of Finance proposes to divide the investors themselves according to the level of qualification.

So, everyone who wants to invest in digital assets will have to pass a special online test.

“If you successfully pass the test, citizens can invest in digital currencies up to 600 thousand rubles annually.

If the test is not passed, then the maximum amount of investments will be limited to 50 thousand rubles.

Qualified investors and legal entities will carry out transactions without restrictions,” the Ministry of Finance explained.

According to the bill, customers of exchanges and exchangers will be able to buy or sell cryptocurrency after mandatory identification and only using a bank account.

Operators and banks themselves will be required to report suspicious transactions to Rosfinmonitoring.

“Today there are people who just want to make money by investing their savings in cryptocurrency, and there are people who want to do some gray or dark operations using cryptocurrency.

So, the identification of people and operations will allow us to clearly identify where the white field is, where the gray one is, ”the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov said earlier.

The draft law also consolidates the definition of digital mining as an activity aimed at obtaining cryptocurrency.

In addition, the document provides for a mechanism for informing the tax authorities with the information necessary for them to exercise control and supervisory functions.

The Ministry of Finance also received proposals from the Bank of Russia to tighten regulation of the cryptocurrency industry.

The regulator's initiatives are planned to be taken into account in further work on the bill, the Ministry of Finance noted.

controversial issue

Recall that the Bank of Russia introduced prohibitive measures against electronic money back in January.

According to the regulator, the expansion of the cryptocurrency industry poses a threat to citizens and the financial system.

Meanwhile, the tough position of the Central Bank did not find support in the Ministry of Finance, which advocated market regulation and the development of blockchain technology.

During a meeting on January 26, Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the government, together with the Central Bank, to still come to a consensus.

As the head of state stressed, the Central Bank is making the necessary efforts to "introduce the latest technologies in this area of ​​activity."

At the same time, the Russian leader drew attention to the problems identified by the regulator.

“According to experts of the Central Bank, the expansion of this type of activity carries certain risks, and, first of all, for the citizens of the country, given the high volatility and some other components of this topic.

Although, of course, we also have certain competitive advantages here, especially in the so-called mining.

I mean a surplus of electricity and well-trained personnel available in the country,” Putin said.

On February 8, the Russian government approved the concept of legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies.

However, already on February 18, it became known that the Central Bank had prepared bills to ban the issuance, circulation and advertising of electronic money in the country.

For violation of the requirements, the regulator proposed to introduce administrative fines of up to 1 million rubles.

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The concerns of the Central Bank regarding the cryptocurrency market are largely related to the already existing negative experience in the history of the Russian financial market.

This point of view in an interview with RT was expressed by the Vice President of the Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, Artificial Intelligence and Blockchain (RACIB) Valery Romanyuk.

“After all the financial pyramids that Russia has faced, great efforts have been made to ensure that such schemes no longer line up.

However, we still have a fairly large number of unqualified investors.

If, in the event of a break in the emission of any of the private cryptocurrencies, people begin to lose money, they will first of all begin to blame the Central Bank and the government.

Therefore, the authorities want to limit the possible damage to citizens,” Romanyuk explained.

At the same time, it is the regulation of the industry that experts interviewed by RT consider the most optimal solution.

As the leading strategist of EXANTE Yanis Kivkulis noted, the cryptocurrency market in Russia is growing steadily and attracting more and more customers.

Against this background, a complete ban on operations with digital money may lead to the departure of a large number of investors into the gray zone, which will result in the growth of the shadow sector of the economy.

“Adequate regulation is always an indisputable plus that takes the industry out of the gray zone.

Transparency reduces the risk of fraud.

With regard to the regulation of cryptocurrencies, it is extremely important that banks are allowed to do full-fledged services like storing them.

This will really significantly increase the reliability of investments in comparison with home wallets and exchange wallets, ”Kivkulis said in a conversation with RT.

As Anton Siluanov stated, today the Ministry of Finance is considering the issue of taxation of mining and operations with crypto assets in Russia.

Thus, the legalization of the industry will additionally replenish the country's budget, the minister is sure.

According to him, the ministry expects that the Central Bank will still be able to find a compromise in disagreements, and the bill on the regulation of digital currencies will be adopted before the end of 2022.