The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation is going to ban the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment – Bits Media

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation believes, that crypto assets can only be used as an investment object.

Ministry of Finance officials 18 February, the bill “On Digital Currency” was sent to government colleagues for approval.. Application cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for goods and services in Russia, according to the document, will be prohibited.

The draft specifies requirements for cryptocurrency exchanges and exchangers ("operators"). A special register will be developed for them. Rules govern reporting, data storage, control and audit, risk management systems and the required amount of capital.

The work of cryptocurrency companies will be registered and come under the supervision of regulators, selected by the government. Foreign crypto companies will be required to obtain a license to obtain permission to work in the Russian Federation.

Trade cryptocurrency, according to the document, only identified users will be able to. Replenishment of wallets on the exchange and withdrawal of assets will have to be carried out through the intermediary of banking organizations.

Therefore, not only cryptocurrency exchanges will participate in establishing the user’s identity., but also banks. Together they must check the activities of users for compliance with legal requirements and report to Rosfinmonitoring about detected suspicious transactions.

Cryptocurrency exchanges will have to warn users about the high risks of investing in cryptocurrencies. Trading platforms are required to allow only users to trade cryptocurrencies, who passed the online test, identifying the required level of knowledge.

In this case, the annual amount of investment in digital assets should not exceed 600 000 rubles. If the user fails the test, the amount of investment will be limited 50 000 rubles.

The draft law states, that qualified and institutional investors will conduct transactions without any restrictions. Trading platforms will have to separate the storage of their own cryptocurrency and users’ cryptocurrency. This will allow, If necessary, collect any debts from the exchange only from assets, owned by the exchange itself. The authors of the bill assure, that they are trying to create a legal cryptocurrency market with clear regulations on turnover and the range of participants.

The Bank of Russia does not stop its attempts to completely ban digital assets. Last week, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation presented a bill, prohibiting the release and circulation of cryptocurrencies in Russia. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov did not agree with the document and, that the ban will harm the economy. Amid the confrontation between regulators, the Association of Banks of Russia (Cloud) created a special expert center for digital financial assets. The head of the center was the GR director of Binance in Russia and the CIS Olga Goncharova. A little earlier, President of the Association of Russian Banks Garegin Tosunyan said, that tracking transactions with cryptocurrencies will not be a problem for financial organizations in Russia.