The government has approved the concept of regulating cryptocurrencies in Russia

The government has approved a concept for legislative regulation of the circulation of digital currencies in Russia with “strict obligations for all participants in the professional market and an emphasis on protecting the rights of ordinary investors.”

The decision was made to introduce regulation in order to integrate cryptocurrency circulation into the country’s financial system, control cash flows, and “bring the digital currency industry out of the shadows,” the government press service reports.

Among other things, the document states that:

• The organizer of cryptocurrency exchange can only be a bank with a universal license, which has the right to conduct operations for opening and maintaining bank accounts of individuals and legal entities.
• Crypto exchanges will have to operate through Russian legal entities and in accordance with the requirements of the law “On combating the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.”
• It will be possible to buy and sell cryptocurrencies on foreign exchanges that have a representative office in Russia and “technical integration with the system of the Russian organizer of the digital currency exchange system.” At the same time, such exchanges should not be located in offshore zones.
• It is proposed to divide cryptocurrency investors into qualified and unqualified. The latter will be subject to transaction limits.
• The digital service "Transparent Blockchain ", developed by Rosfinmonitoring, can be used to monitor cryptocurrency transactions. The government considered it impossible to use foreign services, since they save user requests.
• The Ministry of Finance, the Bank of Russia, Rosfinmonitoring, the FSB, the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Federal Tax Service, the Ministry of Economic Development, and the Prosecutor General's Office took part in the discussion of cryptocurrency regulation, the government press service said in a statement. Earlier, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation advocated a complete ban on cryptocurrency in Russia.
• The FSB convinced the Bank of Russia to come up with this initiative, Bloomberg reported . According to the publication, they wanted to deprive the opposition, “undesirable organizations” and media outlets — “foreign agents” — of access to this type of financing.
• According to the Singapore payment gateway TripleA, almost 12% of the Russian population, or 17.3 million people, own cryptocurrency. As Bloomberg reported , the Russian authorities believe that Russians own cryptocurrencies worth over 16.5 trillion rubles ($214 billion).
• The government's concept, citing "expert assessments," states that Russians have opened more than 12 million cryptocurrency wallets, with funds amounting to approximately two trillion rubles.