After passage into law in Russia, the bill would force DFA managers to hold off on any deals, which could mean that crypto could be used as a substitute for money.
In recent months, Russian legislators have been working on legislation to fully institutionalize cryptocurrency as a properly taxable investment asset and potential tool for foreign trade in Russia. They want to make it clear that the upcoming regulatory shift will not include any opportunities to use digital financial products as a payment method.
Anatoliy Aksakov, the head of the Financial Markets Committee in the Russian parliament’s lower chamber, the State Duma, introduced a bill on Tuesday, June 7, that would prohibit the use of “digital financial assets” (DFA) to pay for any kind of goods or services. As stated in the cover note:
“The ruble is the Russian Federation’s official monetary unit (currency). The aforementioned article prohibits the introduction of other monetary units or monetary surrogates on Russian Federation territory.”
The bill refers to existing legislation that does not explicitly prohibit the use of DFAs as a payment method, though such operations are still not considered legal in the country. The new document would make this prohibition official and obligate DFA exchange managers to withhold any transactions involving the use of cryptocurrency as a monetary surrogate.
The bill also defined an “electronic platform,” which is a financial platform, investment platform, or information system in which digital financial assets are issued. Electronic platforms would be recognized as subjects of the national payment system and required to register with the central bank. Every major DFA operation — emission, circulation, exchange, and trade — would have its registry.
The current law on Digital Financial Activities went into effect in 2021. The State Duma approved DFA tax amendments on the first reading in May 2022. Separately, two other significant bills are making their way through the legislative process — a bill “On digital currency” would define the regulatory framework for crypto in general, while a bill “On mining in Russian Federation” would establish guidelines for miners.
