Russia’s Ministry of Finance advocates the regulation of gambling currencies and the identification of their owners

What’s new? The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation believes that gambling currencies should be regulated to prevent their use as a means of payment outside applications, as well as for money laundering and terrorist financing. This idea was supported by Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring). Also, the authorities proposed to introduce the identification of the owners of such assets in carrying out transactions. Izvestia reports with reference to Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev.

Izvestia’s material

What else does the publication report? The press service of Rosfinmonitoring explained that, unlike cryptocurrencies, gambling assets can usually only be used to buy services and items within a particular application. Despite this, some services offer customers to convert internal funds into fiat or sell in-game items for real money. Earlier, the department reported that Second Life, Entropia Universe, and Roblox were among such platforms. Rosfinmonitoring noted that the regulation of digital assets and gambling currencies should be identical.

The Bank of Russia also saw serious risks to the country’s financial system, associated with the use of game currencies. The Central Bank’s press service noted that according to the law, the official currency of Russia is the Russian ruble, so the introduction of other currencies or issuance of their surrogates is prohibited. In addition, the department’s representatives added that the potential use of fiat substitutes as a means of payment creates a risk of undermining monetary circulation and loss of sovereignty of the national currency. Earlier, Bank of Russia governor Elvira Nabiullina already noted that cryptocurrencies should not penetrate the domestic financial system.

Earlier the Ministry of Finance, Rosfinmonitoring, and the Bank of Russia on the instructions of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin began to develop the draft law that will regulate the issuance, circulation, and other operations related to digital assets. In particular, the departments discussed issues of international payments in cryptocurrency.