Russian Lawmakers Pass Bill to Treat Cryptocurrency As Property, But Bans Them

[G.Belaci]

On Wednesday, July 22, Russian lawmakers passed a bill that gives legal status to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin. After its third and final hearing, the legislators approved the the Digital Financial Assets (DFA) bill.

The bill also received major backing from Anatoly Aksakov, a senior lawmaker who currently heads Russian parliament’s financial markets committee.

Citing the actual report, local news publication Tass reported that the law recognizes digital assets “as an aggregate of electronic data capable of being accepted as the payment means… [but] cannot be used at the same time to pay for any goods and services”.

The new law gives Russian a legal approval to buy and hold Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for investment purpose. However, the law comes with a caveat that “Possession of digital currency, its acquisition and transfer by legal means are allowed only if declared”.

It further adds that digital currencies “can be issued, purchased and sold and registered within the framework of special information systems” and “systems and their operators shall conform to Russian laws and stand filed in a relevant register kept by the Bank of Russia.”

It means that the Russian central bank has an important role to play in the regulation of digital currencies. “The central bank will have the right to determine features of digital assets accessible by qualified investors only,” reported Tass.

Another limitation with the new crypto law is that Russians cannot use Digital currencies for making daily payments of goods and services. Thus, it clearly bans them from having an existence in Russia’s mainstream financial markets.

Russian lawmaker Mikhail Uspensky said that the law will come into force in January 2021. “The only thing outright prohibited is taking crypto as payment for goods and services, which was the Bank of Russia’s principal premise. But buying a cup of coffee for bitcoin is still a kind of exotic thing anyway,” he added.

He also noted that the current bill draft is a midway between the conservative central bank and the cryptocurrency community. “They decided only to mention cryptocurrency in the bill so far and prohibit using it as a payment, but postpone deciding on more important issues, like the criminal cases [related to crypto], crypto OTC businesses, and so on,” he said.

Source: https://www.worldcoinindex.com/news/russian-lawmakers-pass-bill-to-treat-cryptocurrency-as-property-but-bans-them-for-payment-of-goods-and-services

[krypto4uvak]

I heard about this law. There is nothing special about him.

[tinakoya]

Government will always come as if they want the best for the crypto community, they will try to regulate it and obviously try to control how and when it's usecase should exist. They will only regulate it to their own benefit. They will want to harbor it's profits and manipulate it. They will want to use it against the community but in as much as we don't let it scare us. This is supposed to be a decentralized world and i believe it still is, they can't control it 100% so they can keep trying!

[masterrex]

I think that limitation is a big blow in the Russian cryptocurrency community, Base on the thread investing cryptocurrency or buying a cryptocurrency in Russia become more centralized because it should be declared in the first place, including the prohibition of using crypto as payment, I don't know if this new bill will bring any positive response in Russian cryptocurrency community but for me, it was against in the principles of decentralization. By the way, let's wait and see what happens next.

[ansi]

I think that limitation is a big blow in the Russian cryptocurrency community, Base on the thread investing cryptocurrency or buying a cryptocurrency in Russia become more centralized because it should be declared in the first place, including the prohibition of using crypto as payment, I don't know if this new bill will bring any positive response in Russian cryptocurrency community but for me, it was against in the principles of decentralization. By the way, let's wait and see what happens next.

that's the main point that took my attention " thy need to declare about it first to become legally ok ". Well that's the bad part about been a crypto trader that don't want the government to know about how much wealth you have lol.
In the other hand, it's good to see it this way, you're legitimate cryptocurrency trader, investor, you won't mind they know what you have which helps you cashing out faster without the fear of been going to jail.

[bigcash2011]

I think most probably it is a temporary measure untill all policies and rules are put in place and eventually crypto will be fully accepted to buy sell or pay anyone.

[Alcor]

Although this law is one of the worst for the world community by today's standards, at this stage it is a great progress for Russia. Until recently, I had no particular doubts that the bill would be adopted in the same wording as it was submitted for the second reading. The adopted version of the law is a great progress, since it still allows the cryptocurrency to gain a foothold in this country. In the future, the country's leadership and government will change and the necessary positive changes will be made to it. Overall, this is much better than it could be under the current situation.

[Noverteno]

Although this law is one of the worst for the world community by today's standards, at this stage it is a great progress for Russia. Until recently, I had no particular doubts that the bill would be adopted in the same wording as it was submitted for the second reading. The adopted version of the law is a great progress, since it still allows the cryptocurrency to gain a foothold in this country. In the future, the country's leadership and government will change and the necessary positive changes will be made to it. Overall, this is much better than it could be under the current situation.

Of course, we expected a much worse result, and therefore the adoption of even such a far from the best law on the regulation of cryptocurrency in Russia is already a great progress. The main thing is that the cryptocurrency is fixed in this country. In the future, the situation will inevitably change, the government and the country's top leadership will also not last forever.

[Jaephoenix]

I think crypto as a whole would eventually be accepted as a legal tender, or store of value in the future, at least. But it's gonna a long way off. All the caveats in this Russian law is just to pretend to be against crypto adoption

[Gurujebs]

I think crypto as a whole would eventually be accepted as a legal tender, or store of value in the future, at least. But it's gonna a long way off. All the caveats in this Russian law is just to pretend to be against crypto adoption

The government would one day have no choice but to accept crypto, its revolutionizing day by day

[crypto4ell]

It is certainly good that such work is being done but I still do not fully understand how it will work in practice. Still, this is a completely new industry that requires specialists to understand.

[Astra]

It is certainly good that such work is being done but I still do not fully understand how it will work in practice. Still, this is a completely new industry that requires specialists to understand.

For Russia, this law is not bad either. They were generally going to introduce criminal liability for the use of cryptocurrency.
Even with such a law, cryptocurrency can actually walk in society and be used as a means of payment. It must be remembered that its direct use as a means of payment is prohibited. If you have, for example, bitcoin on your payment card along with the usual currency, you can withdraw funds from bitcoin, the card will automatically convert them into local currency and the calculation will be made. In fact, the money left bitcoin, and paid off, say, with a ruble. The current Russian law has not been violated.

[Alcor]

It is certainly good that such work is being done but I still do not fully understand how it will work in practice. Still, this is a completely new industry that requires specialists to understand.

For Russia, this law is not bad either. They were generally going to introduce criminal liability for the use of cryptocurrency.
Even with such a law, cryptocurrency can actually walk in society and be used as a means of payment. It must be remembered that its direct use as a means of payment is prohibited. If you have, for example, bitcoin on your payment card along with the usual currency, you can withdraw funds from bitcoin, the card will automatically convert them into local currency and the calculation will be made. In fact, the money left bitcoin, and paid off, say, with a ruble. The current Russian law has not been violated.

Yes, you have correctly stated the essence of the possible actual use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment without violating the recently adopted law in Russia. This is how it was earlier in Russia during the Soviet era. The dollar could not be used directly as a means of payment. However, it was possible to exchange it at an exchange office for rubles and buy goods for rubles. Now, there is no need to look for a separate exchange office. There are bank cards that will transfer bitcoin or ethereum to the ruble inside and pay with the ruble. What is the benefit here? We have funds on the card in bitcoin, and if the price of bitcoin rises, then it also grows in relation to bitcoins or other cryptocurrency on our bank card.