The State Duma plans to impose restrictions on Russians on investing in digital assets. Experts talked about how, if adopted, the new rules could affect holders of digital assets
Deputies of the State Duma of the Russian Federation consider it necessary to prescribe legislative restrictions on investments in cryptocurrencies and digital assets for unqualified investors. This was stated by the head of the Duma committee on the financial market Anatoly Aksakov. According to him, cryptocurrencies are a new financial instrument and it is quite difficult for an unskilled investor.
Previously, a similar position was expressed in the Bank of Russia. In mid-September, the first deputy chairman of the financial regulator Sergey Shvetsov stressed that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is skeptical about buying cryptocurrency as an investment and opposes access to them for unqualified investors.
In such a situation, the legislator will need to accurately determine the limits of regulation, since the situation with cryptocurrency is not fully regulated even by the law on CFA, explained Dmitry Kirillov, a lawyer and teacher at Moscow Digital School. The law separates digital currency and digital currency. Further, the law recognizes the existence of CFA issued in foreign information systems, the lawyer claims. And on this basis, the regulator will be able to impose restrictions on the purchase of foreign CFA by unqualified investors.
At the same time, now in relation to digital currency in the law there is only its definition and a prohibition for Russian residents to accept it as payment for goods, works and services. The exchange of cryptocurrency on foreign trading platforms, as well as liability for violation of the above prohibition are not regulated, Kirillov emphasized.
“Measures of influence on foreign trading platforms that trade in crypto-assets are, in principle, very limited. Strengthening the responsibility of Russian unqualified investors for work on such sites will most likely lead to the departure of such trading “into the shadows,” the expert believes.
If the initiative of the State Duma and the Central Bank is implemented in the law, then users, when passing the KYC procedure on Russian exchanges, will have to confirm their status as a qualified investor, added Efim Kazantsev, a member of the Commission on Legal Support of the Digital Economy of the Moscow Branch of the Russian Lawyers Association. According to him, otherwise, users will be able to invest only within the limits set for unqualified investors.