Russia expresses intentions of walking the cryptocurrency route amid Western sanctions following the Ukraine war. The state Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, is really close to entertaining the cryptocurrency bill.
The Russian lawmakers want to legally develop and nurture the domestic cryptocurrency mining and sale market in Russia from January 1, 2023.
The bill regulating cryptocurrencies and its mining in Russia was originally introduced in the parliament in November 2022. But it has reportedly got delayed owing to the opposition fearing it to be a tool for ‘capital flight.’
Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman, the Financial Market Committee of the State Duma (lower house), also acknowledges the fears. He said at a recent press conference,
I will not name the organizations that slowed down the movement of the bill. At the same time, according to the critics of the bill, it could create channels for capital flight from our country. Ostensibly, it will be the activity of buying cryptocurrency, but in fact, the main objective will be capital flight from our country. That risk probably exists. I’ll meet with these critics and say – let’s finalize it together.
But Russian lawmaker Aksakov is optimistic that the bill would soon be approved. He says,
I hope we will initiate this process in January – the approval in the first reading. This will transpire if I manage to convince the critics that their opinion will be definitely addressed when revising for the second reading. If we do not succeed, they have their own options; we will probably postpone [it]. Still, I believe we will be 90% able to come to terms in order to launch this bill for approval.
Market reports reveal that even the Central Bank of Russia is not opposing the crypto bill in question.
The monetary authority advises Russians to refrain from selling mined cryptocurrency in Russia. But such mined cryptocurrency can be sold on foreign exchanges or to those not Russian residents, says the Russian central bank.
