Earlier this week the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, approved almost unanimoulsy in first reading a bill to regulate digital financial assets, including cryptocurrencies, and ICOs.
According to the new law, digital financial assets are not a legal method of payment Russia. The text regards cryptocurrency and tokens as digital property, with the distinction that tokens have a single issuer while cryptocurrencies have a variety of issuers (miners).
Cryptocurrency purchase and sale transactions involving rubles or foreign currencies will be performed through specialized “exchange operators.” These will provide duly identified users with an account and a digital wallet. Such transactions will be regulated under rules that will be issued by the central bank.
In October 2017 President Putin set a deadline to legalize ICOs and cryptocurrencies in Russia. The legislation has been drafted by Russia’s Ministry of Finance. It was initially introduced to the parliament in March 20, 2018 by a group of deputies headed by Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets.
Registry or KYC?
Russia is also planning to introduce a registry of crypto investors as part of Russia’s anti-money laundering legislation. Such registry aims to eliminate anonymity in ICOs and make the Russian crypto industry more transparent, as reported by the Russian daily Izvestiya, which cites unofficial sources.
To participate in ICOs and other crypto projects, crypto investors, just like traditional investors, will have to link their crypto wallets to their passports, personal tax reference numbers or biometric IDs. However, the registry will not be able to control investments via the foreign cryptocurrency exchanges; moreover, experts cited by Izvestiya wondered if such registry is necessary to prevent anonymity as KYC (Know Your Customer) procedures are becoming the rule in ICOs.
According to RCBA, there are some two million crypto investors in Russia. Pripachkin believes their number will reach three million by the end of the year and double in 2019.
Sources: Russian Parliament, Meduza, Izvestiya
