- Bank of Russia developing bill for the experimental legal regime for crypto in import-export deals.
- Trading and payments with cryptocurrencies remain banned within Russia.
- Bank of Russia plans to establish dedicated entities for cross-border crypto mining and payments.
As per Russian news agency TASS, the regulatory agency’s head, Elvira Naiullina, announced on Monday that the Bank of Russia is developing a bill that will establish an “experimental legal regime” for cryptocurrencies, exclusively intended for import-export transactions.
According to Elvira Naiullina, trading, and payments with cryptocurrencies will remain prohibited within Russia. Additionally, a local newspaper, Vedomosti, reported on Tuesday that the government is preparing a bill to establish a national agency responsible for licensing and regulating cryptocurrency platforms operating in the country. Sergei Altukhov, a member of the Russian parliament’s economic policies committee, was cited as saying that the regulation would include a new tax code for miners.
During a meeting with the parliamentary fraction of the “New People” political party on Monday, Nabiullina mentioned that the central bank’s plan involves establishing dedicated entities responsible for cryptocurrency mining and payment processing for cross-border trade deals. However, it is still unclear what these entities will be. In the past, BitRiver, which is one of Russia’s largest mining companies, collaborated with Gazpromneft, a state-affiliated oil company.
Nabiullina further stated that digital assets created within Russia, in compliance with the domestic law established in 2020, can also be utilized in cross-border transactions at par with decentralized cryptocurrencies worldwide.
Alexey Guznov, the deputy of Nabiullina, has also stated that the Bank of Russia is presently in talks with the government to determine the type of entities that can take part in the pilot program, what their business models should be, and which banks they can use. According to him, it is expected that government-backed firms will be involved in the initial phases of the experiment.
