Progress on Russia’s cryptocurrency regulation bill is underway. The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation has officially released its first general notice regarding cryptocurrency regulation on the federal legal portal. On Thursday, two development notices were filed divulging the development of the legal framework surrounding digital currencies and their transactions.
“On Digital Currency” is the name of the first notice filed. This notice conveys the government’s plan to launch a public consultation on regulations surrounding digital asset transactions. This public consultation invites financial market participants, legal entities, and citizens to input their proposals. The second notice piggybacks off the first by developing a process for amendments to other federal laws that the first notice may bring about. The Ministry of Finance plans on finalizing the public consultations by March 18th.
Although the draft of the bill is not released, a spokesperson at the ministry stated that the document should be made public within the next three weeks. According to this spokesperson, “The public discussion procedure takes place in several stages. We are currently at the initial stage of informing about the beginning of development.”
Conversely, Anton Siluanov, Russian Finance Minister, foresees the crypto bill passing by the end of 2022.
Local reports state that the Russian government is expected to introduce these federal crypto regulations by Friday, creating a standard for crypto regulations with the central bank of Russia. The Ministry of Finance had previously attempted to regulate the crypto market by limiting non-professional investors’ exposure to crypto by placing the infrastructure under the control of a single “digital currency exchange organizer.” Only time will tell how the crypto world will continue to develop in Russia.