In recent months, Russian legislators have been preparing measures to fully institutionalize crypto as a properly taxable investment asset and a possible tool for foreign trade in Russia. Now, they want to make clear that the upcoming regulatory turn won\u2019t include any windows for adopting digital financial products as a payment method.\u00a0<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, June 7, Anatoliy Aksakov, the head of the Financial Markets Committee of the Russian parliament\u2019s lower chamber \u2014 the State Duma \u2014\u00a0introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of \u201cdigital financial actives\u201d (DFA) to pay for any kind of goods or services. As the cover note specified:<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ruble is the official monetary unit (currency) of the Russian Federation. The aforementioned article sets a prohibition against the introduction of other monetary units or monetary surrogates on the territory of the Russian Federation.\u201d <\/p>\n
The bill refers to already existing legislation, which doesn\u2019t prohibit explicitly using DFAs as a payment method, although de-facto such operations still aren’t considered legal in the country. The new document would make this ban official and oblige DFA exchange managers to withhold any deals implicating the usage of crypto as a monetary surrogate. <\/p>\n
Related: Russia to include crypto into its tax code: Here is what the rules might look like<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The bill also introduced the concept of an \u201celectronic platform,\u201d which is loosely defined as a financial platform, investment platform or information system in which digital financial assets are issued. Electronic platforms would be recognized as the subjects of the national payment system and obliged to submit to the central bank\u2019s registry. Every major operation with DFAs \u2014 their emission, circulation, exchange and trade \u2014 would get its own registry. <\/p>\n The existing law on Digital Financial Actives came into force in 2021. In May 2022 the tax amendments on DFAs passed the first reading in the State Duma. In a separate development, two other important bills are continuing their journey through the legislative process \u2014 a bill \u201cOn digital currency\u201d would define the regulatory framework for crypto in general, while a bill \u201cOn mining in Russian Federation\u201d should set the guidelines for miners. <\/p>\n