The State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, has postponed the second reading of a long-awaited bill intended to regulate to regulate digital financial assets, including cryptocurrencies, and ICOs. Lawmakers will review the draft law “On Digital Financial Assets” during the spring parliamentary session next year, the house deputy speaker Sergey Neverov announced.
In October 2017 President Putin set the deadline to July 1, 2018 to legalize ICOs and cryptocurrencies in Russia. Drafted by Russia’s Ministry of Finance, the legislation was initially introduced to the parliament in March by a group of deputies.
The bill was adopted on first reading in May of this year, along with two other pieces of legislation aimed at regulating the crypto sector – a draft amending the Russian Civil Code to incorporate a definition of “digital rights” and another one introducing rules for crowdfunding platforms. The second reading of the legislative package was initially scheduled to take place during the fall session.
Meanwhile, the Russian Lawyers Association and an educational organization called Blockchain Lawyers have agreed to establish a specialized commission to solve problems arising from the lack of proper crypto regulations in the country. The commission will also work with companies in other related sectors such as blockchain development, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies and the Internet-of-Things.
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