Putin signed a law on the regulation of cryptocurrencies from 2021

[Baofeng]

Ok, so here it goes,

MOSCOW, July 31 - RIA Novosti. Vladimir Putin signed a law that will allow transactions with digital financial assets (DFA) from 2021, but will ban cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in Russia.

https://ria.ru/20200731/1575229960.html

The question is why does it take too long for Putin to sign this law, Lol. We all know that they have a hard line stance against crypto, I'm expecting this signing and implementation much earlier.

And who are going to challenge this law? There could be someone inside Russia that is influential in the crypto sphere, but I doubt they will make a U-turn.
I used Google Translate.

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[figmentofmyass]

We all know that they have a hard line stance against crypto, I'm expecting this signing and implementation much earlier.

it's not totally anti-crypto. for example, the law explicitly allows companies to issue security tokens if they register with the central bank, which is a lot less harsh than china's 2017 regulation. the law also legitimizes BTC and other cryptocurrencies as investments by fitting them into the russian tax scheme.

the fact that crypto can't be used to pay for goods and services is certainly a bummer, but i don't see the news affecting the market (domestic or otherwise) and it also probably won't be enforced.

[hugeblack]

We all know that they have a hard line stance against crypto, I'm expecting this signing and implementation much earlier.

The law prohibits dealing, but it does not contain any penalties. The idea of punishing BTC investors with fines and prison terms has been suspended for the time being.
In fact the current Digital Finance Asset Bill (DFA), bill has been amended two times and a session of the Russian Parliament took place on July 21.

The earlier version of the DFA bill had proposed fines of up to $7K or seven years in prison for folks buying Bitcoin with fiat.

A law is expected to criminalize trading or impose severe penalties, but it is unlikely that it will be passed soon.
The next version may contain more definitions of mining and others.
Read more about this topic here  & Source -----> https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5263651.0

[Yaunfitda]

We all know that they have a hard line stance against crypto, I'm expecting this signing and implementation much earlier.

it's not totally anti-crypto. for example, the law explicitly allows companies to issue security tokens if they register with the central bank, which is a lot less harsh than china's 2017 regulation. the law also legitimizes BTC and other cryptocurrencies as investments by fitting them into the russian tax scheme.

the fact that crypto can't be used to pay for goods and services is certainly a bummer, but i don't see the news affecting the market (domestic or otherwise) and it also probably won't be enforced.

I do hope so, but it seems that there are no repercussions as of yet and business as usual for our Russian crypto enthusiast here in our community. I think the market really matures as these kind of negative news are not really affecting the market. But if this is 2017, I mean crypto media sites are going to jump on it and spin everything to create another FUD.

[mikeauerbach]

They couldn't correctly define cryptocurrency for ages. Later Putin tried to decide how cryptocurrency would be regulated. There was a rumor about banning crypto.

[HeRetiK]

Russian banks and exchanges will be able to become operators of the exchange of digital financial assets with the right to conduct sale and purchase transactions and exchange of such assets, and for this they must be included in a special register of the Central Bank.

The Bank of Russia will have the right to determine the signs of CFA, which only qualified investors can acquire, as well as, within a certain amount, unqualified individual investors.

That sounds like Russian exchanges will finally get solid legal footing. It also sounds like the choice of legally tradeable cryptocurrencies could end up rather arbitrary though. I wouldn't be surprised if the list of approved CFA's would boil down to Bitcoin, Ethereum and some Russian alt coin no one has heard of before.

[NotATether]

I don't think there's such a concept of digital financial assets that doesn't include cryptocurrency. It seems to be the only thing that resembles DFA, and countries use such long names for it most likely because they want to address it by something formal to which they give their own definition, since they don't treat all cryptocurrencies the same they ban some and legalize others.

Also, I should make one thing clear, they aren't going to ban holding cryptocurrency, only doing anything else with it. It won't be useful in Russia after that but at least Russians won't suddenly get arrested because of their crypto savings they obtained long before these bills were passed.

[Baofeng]

We all know that they have a hard line stance against crypto, I'm expecting this signing and implementation much earlier.

the fact that crypto can't be used to pay for goods and services is certainly a bummer, but i don't see the news affecting the market (domestic or otherwise) and it also probably won't be enforced.

This one. If you can't used our bitcoin to pay for good and services and be treated as money then for me this is anti-crypto, half baked ass regulations coming from them. But it is nice that market as a whole has somewhat evolved or grow as a whole because it didn't put any dent and on the contrary the price continue to soar after the news comes out.

[eaLiTy]

The law prohibits dealing, but it does not contain any penalties. The idea of punishing BTC investors with fines and prison terms has been suspended for the time being.

A law is expected to criminalize trading or impose severe penalties, but it is unlikely that it will be passed soon.

I do not think that they will pass a law that will criminalize trading because when a similar bill was introduced there was an outcry from ministers and cryptocurrency investors and now they are passing a law which allows companies to issue digital securities in blockchain if they are registered with the bank of Russia and if you pass a law like that then you cannot make a U turn and then ban everything. I am expecting strict regulations but not banning and imprisonment for users who abide by the law.

[cryptoaddictchie]

I don't see the news affecting the market (domestic or otherwise) and it also probably won't be enforced.

Most likely it will at some point (Russia probably holds one of huge crypto community, investors and traders). The one who really got affected by this are the Russian crypto communities involved in crypto. They should leave country to do some crypto trading or business related to it or else used Russian own dedicated digital exchange with hard tax applied.

Also, I should make one thing clear, they aren't going to ban holding cryptocurrency, only doing anything else with it.

Thats totally unfair if even holders will be subjected to any violation for having it. Poor russians investors, they needed to fly somewhere off Russia to dump asset.

RAKIB’s letter says one of the bills introduced prohibits the issuance of cryptocurrencies using servers located in Russia and web domains registered in the country, which means local crypto businesses will have to leave for other jurisdictions.

Putin already made those guys miserable with these provisions.

[Twinkledoe]

The law prohibits dealing, but it does not contain any penalties. The idea of punishing BTC investors with fines and prison terms has been suspended for the time being.

A law is expected to criminalize trading or impose severe penalties, but it is unlikely that it will be passed soon.

I do not think that they will pass a law that will criminalize trading because when a similar bill was introduced there was an outcry from ministers and cryptocurrency investors and now they are passing a law which allows companies to issue digital securities in blockchain if they are registered with the bank of Russia and if you pass a law like that then you cannot make a U turn and then ban everything. I am expecting strict regulations but not banning and imprisonment for users who abide by the law.

They can't totally ban crypto as people will doubt about their digital securities in blockchain. Sooner or later, they will change again their stand in terms of crypto dealings. There are so many Russians here who are into crypto, so I am sure they are also waiting to have good news from their government.

[figmentofmyass]

Russian banks and exchanges will be able to become operators of the exchange of digital financial assets with the right to conduct sale and purchase transactions and exchange of such assets, and for this they must be included in a special register of the Central Bank.

The Bank of Russia will have the right to determine the signs of CFA, which only qualified investors can acquire, as well as, within a certain amount, unqualified individual investors.

That sounds like Russian exchanges will finally get solid legal footing. It also sounds like the choice of legally tradeable cryptocurrencies could end up rather arbitrary though. I wouldn't be surprised if the list of approved CFA's would boil down to Bitcoin, Ethereum and some Russian alt coin no one has heard of before.

i'm not quite sure how to interpret that. it may refer to a concrete set of criteria issued by the central bank, as opposed to explicit whitelists and blacklists.

[Yaunfitda]

The law prohibits dealing, but it does not contain any penalties. The idea of punishing BTC investors with fines and prison terms has been suspended for the time being.

A law is expected to criminalize trading or impose severe penalties, but it is unlikely that it will be passed soon.

I do not think that they will pass a law that will criminalize trading because when a similar bill was introduced there was an outcry from ministers and cryptocurrency investors and now they are passing a law which allows companies to issue digital securities in blockchain if they are registered with the bank of Russia and if you pass a law like that then you cannot make a U turn and then ban everything. I am expecting strict regulations but not banning and imprisonment for users who abide by the law.

They can't totally ban crypto as people will doubt about their digital securities in blockchain. Sooner or later, they will change again their stand in terms of crypto dealings. There are so many Russians here who are into crypto, so I am sure they are also waiting to have good news from their government.

Why not? if they see the crypto will be a threat to their financial stability and could be used by criminals, can hide their wealth and not pay tax, then a country like the government of Russia can issue it. And I really doubt that under Putin, they will suddenly change their stance. It's authoritarian, and most countries with this kind of government wanted to get control of everything.

[zasad@]

I read the tax laws of other countries and I understand that Russia has one of the best tax laws. In Russia, tax is paid only after the exchange of cryptocurrency for fiat.
If you read US law such as IRS Ruling 2019-24 (specifically addresses cryptocurrency hard fork and airdrops tax treatment)
https://cryptotapas.com/irs-issues-guidance-on-cryptocurrency-hard-forks-airdrops/
then many American citizens will be forced to suffer huge losses if the information is written correctly.

[cheezcarls]

So they’re legalizing cryptocurrencies but banned it as payment method. Okay I respect that, at least they’re not totally banning cryptocurrencies at all. I just wish that there come a time that Russia would change mind and legalizing cryptocurrencies as payment method. You can only get taxed after converting Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies for fiat.

It’s a good thing rather than banning it at all. I know that other Russian crypto enthusiasts aren’t happy about the ban of cryptos as payment method. Every country has their own crypto roles. Some countries think it’s illegal, some would heavily regulate them, and some are totally crypto-friendly.

Bitcoin is still young. There come a time that other countries banning BTC would have a change of heart, but don’t expect it soon.

[Harlot]

Russian individuals and legal entities will be able to challenge transactions with digital currency in court only if they have declared these transactions and the very possession of cryptocurrency in Russia. Officials and a number of other persons who are now not entitled to have accounts (deposits) abroad are also prohibited by the law from having digital currency and digital currency issued in foreign information systems.

Judging with how strict their crypto law is it looks like Putin will just be trying out if their regulations in the new law will work on what they are envisioning which at this point I don't know what is. If the Google translate is right even officials are prohibited as the same way as regular citizens when it comes to ownership of crypto, they can't even hold crypto abroad which is some kind of strict AML procedure which I think was only implemented in their country. Aside from that the law based on the article has no mentions regarding tokens/ICOs as well as mining which the article stated might have separate law/s with both of them.

[avikz]

Ok, so here it goes,

MOSCOW, July 31 - RIA Novosti. Vladimir Putin signed a law that will allow transactions with digital financial assets (DFA) from 2021, but will ban cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in Russia.

https://ria.ru/20200731/1575229960.html

The question is why does it take too long for Putin to sign this law, Lol. We all know that they have a hard line stance against crypto, I'm expecting this signing and implementation much earlier.

And who are going to challenge this law? There could be someone inside Russia that is influential in the crypto sphere, but I doubt they will make a U-turn.
I used Google Translate.

Lol! What else you can expect from a hardcode communist country?? Do they have a good reason to allow freedom to their own people?

That was very much expected! The only question was when and now we've got the timeline for the application of the law. Even though Russian Central Bank once said, that it is impossible to ban cryptocurrency but now the government will do it through a stringent law which has provisions of punitive actions!

Expect black market transactions to rise from Russia now!

[gentlemand]

Lol! What else you can expect from a hardcode communist country?? Do they have a good reason to allow freedom to their own people?

It's a gangster country these days.

Like anything Russian regarding crypto I'll wait for it to officially pass before believing anything. I expect between now and then Putin will champion Rapecoin one day and then threaten to murder anyone who looks at r/bitcoin the following day.

[stompix]

Lol! What else you can expect from a hardcode communist country?? Do they have a good reason to allow freedom to their own people?
That was very much expected!

Actually almost everyone expected far worse, and although a lot of things in that law can be twisted to incriminate usage it's still better then what they could have put in place if they wanted to curb usage. Apart from some minor things about declaring your holdings and income and the little ambiguous paragraph about foreign deposits I think the law is pretty lax, it is focused more on investments and the requirements from platforms that offer crypto-related services, I think they are more concern with cash outflows than with usage in the country.
Also, cryptos can be accepted as payment on an individual level, they are just not legal tender, this means also nothing as they were not legal tender before and nobody ever believed Rusia will do accept them as such, overall I think it's way better than they could have done, owning them and transferring them form p2p  as personal usage is legal contrarian to some early drafts, it  could have been better but it could have been far far worse.

Aside from that the law based on the article has no mentions regarding tokens/ICOs as well as mining which the article stated might have separate law/s with both of them.

They decided to focus on the financial aspect, especially the transfer of wealth rather than on mining, probably because they've realized a lot of tokens are not minable and mining is restricted to some coins. As for ICOs, they all fall into "investments" and a lot of this law is focused on investment from the first pages, it comes with a full AML/KYC requirement for all the platforms dealing with Russian customers.

[Harlot]

Aside from that the law based on the article has no mentions regarding tokens/ICOs as well as mining which the article stated might have separate law/s with both of them.

They decided to focus on the financial aspect, especially the transfer of wealth rather than on mining, probably because they've realized a lot of tokens are not minable and mining is restricted to some coins. As for ICOs, they all fall into "investments" and a lot of this law is focused on investment from the first pages, it comes with a full AML/KYC requirement for all the platforms dealing with Russian customers.

Technically everything in the crypto industry is part of the financial aspect as everything involved cryptocurrencies with monetary value. So the real question is why do they have to separate the laws for ICOs as well as mining? There are 2 possibilities for it for one they might have other plans for it or the other one is they will have harsher rulings or penalties for these types of activities. Either way I think it will follow on the first bill that was signed by Putin.