Russia’s Ministry of Finance and Central Bank will allow international settlements in cryptocurrencies for all industries

Ministry official Ivan Chebeskov noted the need for alternatives to the US dollar and the SWIFT system

04.10.2022 - 09:00

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What’s new? The Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance will allow international settlements in cryptocurrencies for all industries. Ivan Chebeskov, Director of the Financial Policy Department of the Ministry of Finance, said this in an interview with RTVI. He noted that all possible alternatives to the US dollar and the SWIFT interbank messaging system, including cryptocurrencies, stablecoins, and digital financial assets (DFAs), should be used for cross-border settlements.

RTVI’s material

What else did Chebeskov add? The Finance Ministry’s representative noted that it is difficult to create one regulatory option for all industries. According to him, “businesses should try different payment methods and only then come to the regulator and say what needs to be adjusted.”

Chebeskov also added that the main difference between the position of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance is that his department supports the creation in Russia of a full-fledged infrastructure for the circulation of digital currencies.

At the moment, the Ministry of Finance, jointly with the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) and the Central Bank, on the instructions of Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, is working on the creation of a draft law to regulate the issuance, circulation, and other operations with digital assets. Rosfinmonitoring said that work on the document will be completed by the end of 2022.

Also, the Ministry of Finance stated the need to regulate gambling cryptocurrencies. This is necessary to prevent their use as a means of payment outside the applications, as well as for money laundering and terrorist financing. The regulator proposed to introduce the identification of owners of such assets to confirm transactions.

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