Russia Introduces Crypto Federal Law, Caps Annual Investment at $7,548

The proposed bill has very clearly stated that the use of cryptocurrencies in the country will only be limited to investment. In no form or manner will it be used for payment as that aspect of the digital currencies continues to remain prohibited.

Russia Defines Crypto Investments

In the proposed bill, the Ministry of Finance explicitly mentioned that for crypto exchanges to continue operating in the country, they will have to follow specific rules.

These rules include relation corporate governance, information storage, internal control and audit, risk management system, and the amount of own funds owned by the exchanges.

Furthermore, once the bill is approved, cryptocurrency like Bitcoin’s sales will only be approved after the client’s identity is known.

The bill has stated that the operating banks which will be conducting transactions to and fro the accounts will need to oblige to the compliance procedures and inform the authorities about suspicious transactions.

Russia is making sure that the bill is as much in favor of the citizens’ safety as possible, and for the same reason, it laid out specific requirements before one can trade cryptocurrencies.

Particular online tests need to be cleared by an individual, determining how much knowledge one possesses about the minute details of investing in crypto.

However, it will not bar citizens from trading even if they do not clear the test.

Upon clearing it, the only difference would be that the maximum annual threshold for crypto investment would stand at 600k Rubles ($7,548). At the same time, failing it would cap the threshold at just 50k Rubles $627.75.

In line with the threshold, the bill stated:

“To protect the rights and interests of investors, exchanges will be obliged to inform citizens about the high risks associated with the acquisition of digital currencies”

Further adding to the same, the Ministry iterated:

“In addition, for the safety of customers’ funds for crypto-exchanges, a nominal account regime is being introduced, on which the funds of bidders will be located. Exchanges and exchangers will be required to maintain registers indicating the addresses – identifiers of each owner of digital currencies. The bill also provides for the maintenance of such registers.”

The Central Bank Ban

When the Bank of Russia proposed a mining and trading ban in the country, the uproar from the community led to the Ministry of Finance taking this step. Commenting on the same, the Ministry stated:

“The Ministry of Finance of Russia also received proposals from the Bank of Russia (with draft legislative amendments) to introduce a ban on the organization of the issue and circulation of digital currencies, as well as the introduction of liability for relevant offenses. The received proposals of the Bank of Russia will be taken into account in further work on the bill in the part that does not contradict the approaches of the Ministry of Finance of Russia.”

Just four days ago, the Russian Minister of Finance said that a crypto ban is impossible as it would be like banning the internet. Thus, it is not surprising that his comments came in days before the proposed legislation.