Russia’s deputy PM has revealed the government is working on a bill to establish a legal framework for blockchain development and implementation.
The Russian government is developing a regulatory framework for the full-fledged use of blocking technology and may have the draft ready within months, Deputy Prime Minister Arkady Dvorkovich told students of the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics.
“When it comes to blockchain, a regulatory framework is mandatory; not necessarily too detailed and meticulous, in order to avoid the obstacles in implementing [blockchain] projects…it has to be done as soon as possible…, we are doing it now. I hope that in the coming months, we’ll solve the legislative situation with blockchain,” Dvorkovich said.
The Digital Financial Assets bill, which touches on cryptocurrencies, was recently sent to the Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament. The bill was prepared by the finance ministry and Nikolai Zhuravlev of the Council of Federation. It includes provisions that require of crypto exchanges to comply with KYC procedures and tries to set a legal framework for cryptocurrencies.
Russia is one of the most active countries when it comes to blockchain projects. Currently, almost 10% of all initial coin offerings (ICOs) come from Russia, according to Icobench. In mid-December, we reported the results of a survey conducted by Waves, which showed that 27% of the respondents saw Japan as a leader at implementing blockchain in 2018, with Russia and South Korea coming next with 15% each.
Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, participated in a successful blockchain experiment that generated the country’s first transaction using distributed ledger technology (DLT). The pilot also involved Russian firms MegaFon and MegaLabs and was carried out on the IBM platform.
In mid-October, Sberbank joined the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA) project.
However, it is not only the corporate space getting seriously involved. The government also supports the new technology, with President Vladimir Putin himself saying Russia has to be more active in adopting blockchain to avoid being “late in the race.”
