The train has left the regulation station as Russia prepares to submit their draft law on controlling regulating the country’s booming crypto industry.
The wheels continue to turn as Russia moves forward with its plan to regulate cryptocurrencies and ICOs within the country and to provide a definitive framework for trading in the industry.
According to EconoTimes, Russia’s Finance Minister, Anton Siluanov, had this to say:
The Ministry of Finance has prepared a draft law, currently under consideration, which will determine the procedure for issuing, taxing, buying and circulation of cryptocurrency.
Crypto Will Not Be Seen as a Currency
State-operated news agency RIA Novosti has reported that the draft will be submitted on the 28th of December. Anatoly Aksakov, who is the chairman of the State Duma committee for the financial market, has said, through a rough translation, that cryptocurrencies will be known as “other properties”:
There will be a final evaluation before the presentation of the bill. [Whether it is] Bitcoin or Ether, all cryptocurrencies [will be known as] other property.
Limited ICO Investing
It’s not just digital currencies that will be getting the regulation treatment. The draft law also discusses ICOs. Aksakov added:
The approach to how the ICO should be conducted is defined. I repeat, this is not the latest version, the latest version will be discussed in the coming days. The ICO is seen as an element of crowdfunding, and the approach is that investors should be limited in the amount they invest.
Sergey Shvetsov, who is the First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Russia, had previously stated that his institution’s goal of regulating ICOs will result in it becoming an alternative means of raising capital in the country.
Even though the bill will be reviewed this week, implementation is still a couple of months away. According to Aksakov:
I expect that the adoption of the draft law on cryptocurrencies will be in March.
D-Day Approaches
Russian President Vladimir Putin has previously earmarked July 2018 as the deadline for the implementation of new and comprehensive crypto regulations in the country
Aksakov has stressed that the draft law is actually in the interest of crypto holders:
The problem is that we already have a lot of people who acquire[d] cryptocurrencies and they are deceived, we need to give people the opportunity to work legally with it, to protect them as much as possible.
Even though Russia is aggressively pushing their regulation efforts, they are not immune to the charms of virtual currencies, previously announcing that they too will be part of the crypto revolution by launching their own digital currency, the CryptoRuble.
What do you think of this latest development in Russia bid to regulate crypto? Let us know in the comments below!
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