The Russian Ministry of Finance is drafting a bill to legalize cryptocurrency trading at approved exchanges. The ministry is already preparing a list of approved trading platforms.
Some Exchanges Will be Legalized
The Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev told reporters that his ministry “supports the legalization of trade in crypto-currencies on official exchanges”, RNS reported on Thursday.
“We do not want to limit and regulate, but we will set some limits”, he emphasized, adding that “nothing will happen” to those already possess cryptocurrencies, the publication conveyed.
The deputy minister was further quoted saying:
This is about the fact that buying and selling of cryptocurrencies will be somehow standardized. The general idea is that it will be necessary to buy and sell on official exchanges, as it will be declared, it will be legalized.
List of Legal Platforms Being Discussed
The Russian Ministry of Finance.
The bill for the regulation of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) was jointly presented at the end of December of last year by the ministry of finance and the central bank, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.
“Following the discussion at the public council, a number of comments were made, which we are now finalizing”, Moiseev was quoted by RNS. He clarified that his ministry plans to finalize the bill, “including the development of rules for the circulation of cryptocurrencies”, and submit it to the State Duma in February, Tass reported on Thursday.
Regarding which trading platforms will be legalized, Moiseev revealed:
We will now actively discuss this issue, list of approved exchanges. This issue is currently unresolved. The rest is more or less clear.
Putin Emphasized the Need for Proper Regulation
The bill to regulate cryptocurrency and ICOs in Russia is expected to be adopted in March, according to the chairman of the State Duma Financial Markets Committee, Anatoly Aksakov. President Vladimir Putin has mandated the regulatory framework for both cryptocurrencies and ICOs be finalized by July 1 of next year.
In a meeting with the heads of print media and news agencies on Thursday, Putin emphasized that proper “legislative regulation will certainly be needed” for the cryptocurrency market, Tass also reported and quoted him saying:
It is known that there is nothing behind cryptocurrency. It cannot be a means of accumulation, there are no material values behind it, it is not provided with anything, it can be, in a certain degree and in certain situations, a means of settlement, which is quickly done and effectively.
“If we regulate, but not efficiently enough, then the government will be responsible for the difficult situations that people can get into”, Putin was quoted by RT. “Right now it is the responsibility of the person himself and the government can only say ‘you can do this but you can’t do that,’ and if it’s still not clear then there will be some problems that need to be solved.”