Russia May Postpone Implementation of Cryptocurrency Law
Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market revealed that Russia’s digital financial assets law has been practically agreed upon but it may be postponed to autumn because the authorities have been unable to reach a concrete agreement on how bitcoin and altcoins should be handled in Russia, reports Tass on July 9, 2019.
Delayed
Per the report, Anatoly Aksakov has revealed that Russia’s digital financial assets law has been practically agreed upon, however, the regulation may be adopted later in the Autumn and not before the end of July as at earlier expected.
According to the Chairman of the State Duma Committee, the postponement of the law’s adoption is as a result of the State Duma’s inability to reach a common ground in deciding the fate of cryptocurrencies in Russia.
It’s worth noting that earlier in March 2019, Vladimir Putin, Russia’s president ordered the country’s government to hasten the adoption of federal laws that will help to regulate cryptocurrencies before July 1, 2019.
Crowdfunding Bill Pushed Back
On the other hand, Aksakov noted that the bill on initial coin offerings (ICOs) does not only relate to digital assets and it is closer to being agreed upon. The crowdfunding bill will most likely be moved to the spring of 2020.
Furthermore, the officials have made it clear that the digital assets guidelines will help the State Duma to decide if cryptocurrencies should be banned as a means of exchange in Russia, a move that could make it illegal for exchanges to offer bitcoin trading services.
Aksakov noted:
“It is necessary to write in the legislation what cryptocurrency is. Then there is a fork in the road: we forbid Russia to organize infrastructure for the acquisition and sale of cryptocurrencies or allow it,”
Despite the potential ban of cryptocurrency exchanges, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee is of the opinion that Russians will still be able to purchase cryptocurrencies from foreign exchanges.
Russian Authorities Looking to Ban Bitcoin Mining
Earlier in June this year, Aksakov also hinted that Russian lawmakers were contemplating the ban of mining on public blockchains because cryptocurrency operations are not covered by the Russian law and are considered illegitimate.
In related news, on July 5, 2019, BTCManager informed that Russia has no plan to ban Facebook’s yet-to-be-launched cryptocurrency, Libra.
In the same vein, Libra will definitely not be given any preferential treatment in Russia since the country may not be ready to adopt a crypto-friendly legislature.
