Russia’s Local lawmakers are going to introduce new amendments to the law “On Digital Financial Assets” to launch a national crypto exchange.
This effort is reportedly supported by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Russia, which have a longstanding history of disagreement regarding crypto regulation in Russia. The central bank will first be presented with the amendments, which would establish a legal framework for a national exchange.
Sergei Altukhov, a member of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, stated that a legal framework for the use of digital assets would be required, to which both the government and the Central Bank would agree. Altukhov also voiced concern about Russia’s financial losses:
It makes no sense to say that cryptocurrencies do not exist, but the problem is that it circulates in a large stream outside of government regulation. These are billions of rubles of lost budget revenues in the form of taxes.
The Duma is debating a crypto-currency regulation scheme, according to Altukhov, and has “reinforced concrete arguments for supervisory authorities.”
According to the publication’s source, deputies and businesses agree that a single crypto exchange will not be used to spread digital currency as a means of payment in the country. The platform will be a kind of exchange where digital currencies can be declared and converted.
Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the Duma’s Committee on Financial Markets, suggested in June that a national cryptocurrency exchange in Russia could be launched as part of the Moscow Exchange. The Moscow Exchange drafted a bill on behalf of the central bank in September to allow trading in digital financial assets.
A bill to legalize cryptocurrency mining and the sale of the cryptocurrency mined was introduced to the Duma earlier this month. The bill would create a Russian platform for crypto sales, but local miners would also be allowed to use foreign platforms. Transactions in the latter case would be exempt from Russian currency controls and regulations, but they would have to be reported to the Russian tax service.
