I don't think that Russia will legalize bitcoin this year, few months ago russian authorities wanted to ban it and jail the bitcoin users.
not exactly.. the article in january was about if people trade bitcoins without registering as a money transmitter business, they would get fines if they are individuals and only jailtime if its a institution found to be doing trades related to criminal activity
ill quote myself from an earlier topic
note the "without statement of person or persons performing such issuance".. this is him saying if your not doing KYC
note the "not provided for in the legal codes" meaning its not to be used for crimes (drugs guns etc)
note the "in violation of procedures established under the legislation" not used for money laundering.
in short its not saying anyone will be arrested and jailed just for touching bitcoin.. but for using it wrongly
ok ill use google and then translate from computer to real english
draft bill
1. Issuance of money surrogates without statement of person or persons performing such issuanse, and/or should such issuance is not provided for in the legal codes of the Russian Federation, or is performed in violation of procedures established under the legislation of the Russian Federation,
if not registered as a money businesss, under the rules of the russian federation
in case such activity incorporates no criminally punishable acts invoke administrative penalty to the tune of
you wont get a prison sentance but instead a fine of...
twenty thousand to forty thousand rubles along with confiscation of the administrative violation item for citizens;
$250/£175 to $500/£350 if you are an individual exchanger
fifty thousand to seventy thousand rubles along with confiscation of the administrative violation item for entrepreneurs;
£450 to £630 if you are a small business exchanger
and it goes on and on but here is parts people gloss over
Note. The following actions are not deemed administrative violations subject to punishment provided herein:
1) usage of assets subject to being classified as money surrogates by a person being identified or being under the process of simplified identification.
its worth reading the source documentation. sometimes best to read it in a quiet space where you got time to take in the information and maybe even read it a few times incase you skip critical parts
also januaries debate about bitcoin jailtime was based on a video, so here is something else to add
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1355282.msg13800226#msg13800226
