Mikhail Mishustin, the Russian Prime Minister, has ordered the government to establish rules regarding crypto regulation by the end of this year.
The date by which the Russian government is supposed to arrive at a consensus has been set as December 19, 2022.
The Prime Minister has explicitly instructed the Duma, as well as other state authorities, that there must be coordinated policies in place regarding the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies or digital currencies in Russia.
Not just issuance and circulation, Mishustin has also mentioned the requirement for the regulations pertaining to crypto mining and cross-border transactions.
The draft crypto regulations have to be in sync with the Russian Finance Ministry, the central bank, anti-money laundering authority Rosfinmonitoring, the Federal Tax Service, and also the Federal Security Service.
Just a week ago, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev stated that the Bank of Russia was on board with the ministry to allow crypto for cross-border payments.
Russia Is Getting Serious About Crypto And Its Uses
The Russian government is supposed to have the regulations in place by the end of this year. The draft document has to be ready by no later than the 1st of December 2022.
This requirement by the Russian government sheds light on one aspect. This confirmation shows that Russia has started to take matters related to cryptocurrency, especially for cross-border transactions, with importance.
Russia’s stance on digital assets has been rather polarizing. It wishes to authorise cross-border transactions while the Russian central bank is still against the legalisation of exchanges and giving digital assets as a means of payment a green signal.
The idea of banning exchanges but allowing cross-border payments has raised many questions, all the more because Russia has still not introduced a framework which would provide laws pertaining to the same.
How Russia is planning on differentiating between domestic and cross-border payments is still to be figured out.
Russia happens to be the first country that has agreed to have cross-border payments but has still not accepted local digital asset payments and exchanges.
Uncertainty About Crypto
Russia’s jurisdiction relating to digital assets remains ambiguous and uncertain, even after they adopted the major crypto-related law regarding Digital Financial Assets in 2020.
This law prohibited Russians from using cryptocurrency as payment but still did not put a ban on activities such as crypto trading and mining in Russia.
The financial regulators of Russia still have not approved any such local digital asset trading platform but have only permitted digital asset trades through renowned exchanges such as Binance.
This need to frame regulations surrounding cross-border payments is because there has to be a simplification of access for foreign investors and issuers into the Russian financial market. A remote identification mechanism needs to be in place for cross-border transactions to happen without too much hassle.
Featured image from VOI, chart from TradingView.com