Pavel Krasheninnikov, head of the legislative committee of the lower house of parliament of the State Duma, said that if the state wants to revive cryptocurrency transactions with taxes, then it needs to completely legalize such operations in the Russian Federation, as he spoke about at a meeting with deputies in Yekaterinburg:
“We have a history of cryptocurrency. On the one hand, it is not recognized as an object, on the other hand, the government introduced a bill that it should be taxed. We tell them, guys, you will decide: either you are taxing, which means that this [cryptocurrency] is an object, or if you say that this is not an object, then do something …
We believe that if you go for the fact that it is an [cryptocurrency] object, therefore, it is necessary to be able to carry out transactions: legal, and not as it is now. It is necessary that there was a possibility of inheritance, it is necessary that it falls into joint ownership. «
Pavel Krasheninnikov noted that if the digital currency is recognized «in any way, in a limited form or in some other way, then there must be some kind of regulation.»
Apparently, the official considers Bitcoin transactions illegal, probably because they do not require government approvals, do not require the participation of intermediaries in the form of banks and other organizations that charge commissions.
As you know, a cryptocurrency bitcoin wallet is protected by a private key, which completely excludes external interference in the form of blocking an account, suspending a payment, limiting the list of recipients and establishing geographic barriers.
It is for this reason that «illegal» bitcoin moves freely around the world . At the same time, there are countries where its use as a means of payment is approved by financial regulators. These include Japan, Switzerland, Singapore, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Czech Republic, Norway and certain states of the United States.
Note that recently the head of Rosfinmonitoring Yuri Chikhanchin told Russian President Vladimir Putin that his department had developed a service to control the movement of funds in cryptocurrency. In this way, the state will be able to minimize the risks of criminal use of tokens.
The number of cryptocurrency users in the world has reached 106 million people
In January 2021, the number of cryptocurrency users reached 106 million, according to a report from the cryptocurrency payment platform Crypto.com.
Analysts studied data from 24 bitcoin exchanges. During January, new users increased by 15.7%, while in the previous three months the growth rate was 0.8-1.3%. According to the researchers, the positive dynamics could have contributed to the rise of the first cryptocurrency to new historical highs.
Get our complete report on growth of the crypto market, with insights on growth and what’s driving it
– Crypto.com (@cryptocom) February 25, 2021
Among the additional drivers, analysts mentioned the DeFi summer, the addition of PayPal to the ability to buy and sell bitcoin, as well as the relaxation of restrictions on the use of cryptocurrencies.
If in August the market fueled the excitement around decentralized finance protocols, then in January the growth provoked growing interest from institutions, analysts said. They cited the activity of MicroStrategy as an example.
Crypto.com estimates that 71 million users owned Bitcoin in January and 14 million users owned Ethereum. During this period, the audience grew by 30.2% and 13.1%, respectively.
The researchers pointed out the limitations of the methodology, which is based, among other things, on the on-chain data of bitcoin and Ethereum. In particular, the sample may incorrectly take into account those users who work through OTC services.
In September, the University of Cambridge calculated that the number of cryptocurrency users almost tripled in two years, from 35 million to 101 million.
In February, the Bitcoin payment service Bottlepay raised £ 11 million. The application allows for micro-payments in bitcoins in real time «for a penny» and may become one of the drivers of audience growth.
