As the public standoff between the 2 agencies approaches fever pitch, the Ministry of Finance makes a proper move.
Russia’s Ministry of Finance has upped the stakes in its drawn-out disagreement against the country’s central bank (CBR) by formally introducing a bill that proposes to regulate digital assets instead of prohibition them.
On Monday, the Ministry introduced a draft of the federal law “On digital currency” to the govt.. This stage of the legislative method precedes the bill’s introduction to the parliament for thought.
The agency cited the “formation of a legal marketplace for digital currencies, beside determinant rules for their circulation and range of participants” because the principle for the initiative. action that the bill doesn't seek to endow digital currencies with tender standing, its authors outline cryptocurrencies as an investment vehicle.
The bill proposes a licensing regime for the platforms facilitating the circulation of digital assets and stipulates prudent, risk management, knowledge privacy and coverage needs that such operators would be subject to. buying and marketing crypto lawfully would solely be doable via a checking account, and it's projected that each crypto platforms and banks introduce understand Your consumer procedures.
The legislation additionally needs digital quality operators to tell retail customers of the risks related to crypto trading. people would ought to pass a check assessing their data of crypto investment practices and risk awareness. those that had passed the check would be subject to a yearly investment limit of 600,000 rubles (around $7900); those that had not passed the check would solely be allowed to take a position up to 50,000 rubles ($650) a year. Businesses and qualified investors are to be exempt from yearly limits.
Additionally, the bill introduces a proper definition of crypto mining and specifies a mechanism whereby crypto market participants will report their activities to tax authorities.
The Finance Ministry’s bill comes days when the Bank of Russia sent its own digital quality framework to the Ministry for review. CBR’s position remained unchanged: provision digital assets and facilitating their circulation are deemed prohibited, whereas banks and different monetary establishments shouldn't be allowed to carry or interact in crypto. a novel clause enclosed within the latest draft additionally proposes to outlaw crypto ads.
The Ministry of Finance and the financial organization were expected, however did not reconcile their positions by Friday, producing 2 contradictory items of legislation instead. The Ministry’s handout wryly mentions that CBR’s propositions “Will be thought-about on later stages of the bill’s development to that degree as they're not at odds with the Finance Ministry’s approach.”
( Kirill Bryanov, Cointelegraph, 2022 )