A bill making it illegal to pay with cryptocurrency has been submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament. The bill’s sponsors want to task crypto platforms to prevent transactions that could facilitate payments in digital assets.
A draft law banning the use of cryptocurrencies for payments has been submitted to the Russian parliament
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Russian lawmakers will consider a new bill that would ban the use of digital financial assets, a legal term that currently encompasses cryptocurrencies, and practical digital rights, or tokens, as a means of payment in Russia. The document was submitted to the State Duma by Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Financial Markets Committee, crypto news outlet Forklog reported.
according to the legislature’s information portal. After approval of the draft in committee, House members are expected to vote on the bill’s first reading in mid-June. If adopted by the House of Representatives, the background for the proposal to allow crypto payments in foreign trade transactions would result in a law that would explicitly prohibit crypto payments within the Russian Federation.
The authors of the bill also emphasize that the Russian ruble is the only legal tender in the country. In their explanatory statement, they claim that the ban would eliminate the risk of adopting digital assets as “monetary substitutes.” They plan to require not only issuers of coins and tokens, but also operators of exchanges and investment platforms to refuse to process transactions related to crypto payments.
The law classifies such entities as subject to Russia’s national payment system. This means that they will be required to register with the Central Bank of Russia. Monetary authorities have been strong opponents of legalizing crypto-related operations and payments in particular, often citing threats to the country’s financial stability, but have recently softened their stance on the possibility of using cryptocurrencies for international payments amid Western sanctions.
Moscow authorities are currently working on adopting comprehensive rules for the country’s crypto space. Currently, the market is only partially regulated by the “On Digital Financial Assets” law approved in 2020 and enacted last January.
The adoption of the new law “On Digital Currency” has been delayed by ongoing discussions on several aspects and multiple revisions to the draft initially submitted to the government by the Ministry of Finance in February. Last month, Russian deputies supported on first reading amendments related to the taxation of crypto transactions.
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