​Russia’s State Duma will adopt four laws on cryptocurrencies by the end of July

What’s new? Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market of the Russian Federation, has said that four cryptocurrency laws are planned to be adopted during the spring session of parliament, which ends on July 30, Interfax reports. According to him, the drafts regulating the mining market, settlements in digital assets in foreign markets, issues of their taxation, and responsibility for their illegal use are at the stage of “high meaningfulness.”

Interfax’s material

What else is known? Aksakov noted that for the adoption of cryptocurrency draft laws, it is necessary to pass tax legislation, as well as take into account the opinion of the market. According to him, it is likely that the rules applicable to digital financial assets (DFAs) should be taken into account as much as possible for new laws because it is a similar tool.

DFAs, like cryptocurrencies, work on the basis of blockchain technology. However, cryptocurrencies differ from DFAs in that they do not have a centralized management body. In addition, in the case of cryptocurrencies, there are usually no financial obligations to holders on the part of the issuer.

The deputy reminded that besides the law on DFA taxation rules the State Duma jointly with the government is working on amendments to the Code of the Russian Federation on Administrative Offenses, the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, and the Criminal Procedure Code of the Russian Federation, in particular, on the draft law to create an experimental legal regime (ELR) in the field of cryptocurrency exchange for foreign economic activity (FEA) and a draft law on mining.

In addition, Aksakov noted that large Russian companies actively use cryptocurrencies in foreign trade payments, but are waiting for the adoption of a law, which would outline the legal framework of transactions.

He also said that he has a personal interest in regulating the mining market as soon as possible. Aksakov said that due to the overloading of the power grid by miners in his apartment in Cheboksary, the refrigerator broke down. He noted that this is a problem faced by many consumers of electricity where it is in short supply or improperly used. Hence, there are overloads in the grids, and people’s appliances suffer and the power goes out.

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In turn, Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies, and Communications, said that in Russia there is no regulation of the mining market due to the fact that different institutions have different approaches to this issue. He expects that the law on cryptocurrency mining will be considered in the first reading, after which it may be amended in some way.

As for cross-border payments in cryptocurrencies, Gorelkin said that he supports the creation of a national crypto exchange, noting that without its own centralized infrastructure, development is impossible.

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Earlier, Deputy Finance Minister of the Russian Federation Alexey Moiseev called cryptocurrencies “evil” and advised citizens not to invest their savings in them. He said that the Central Bank held a similar position.