Russia: Duma approves bill on cryptocurrencies in first discussion

In Russia, the lower house of parliament, which is known as the State Duma, was approved in the first discussion the bill whose objective is to regulate everything related to crypto-industry.

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This legislative initiative seeks to add basic digital economy standards to the Civil Code of the Russian Federation, as well as parameters to interact with technologies related to blockchain and digital currencies.

The head of the Legislative Work Committee of the State Duma, Pavel Krasheninnikov, said that the new law seeks to "minimize the existing risks of using digital objects to transfer assets to an unregulated digital environment for the legitimacy of criminal income, bank fraud or sponsoring terrorist groups, "local media Izvestia reported .

Technologies related to block chains, such as intelligent contracts, Initial Coin Offering (ICO) and mining, are also included in this project. But one of the most relevant aspects is undoubtedly the definition of cryptocurrencies and tokens, which are classified as property.

The official press release on the legislative bill says that "these specifications determine that both cryptocurrencies and tokens constitute a property, identifying the key differences between cryptocurrencies and tokens on the basis that it is a single issuer (for tokens) or a variety of issuers / miners (for cryptocurrencies), as well as the emission targets ".

However, the document emphasizes that "digital financial assets do not constitute a legal method of payment within the territory of the Russian Federation".

The legislation, which had been under consideration since last year, received several criticisms, by government officials, when it was presented in April. Even the Kremlin demanded that it should be clearer in some fundamental aspects, such as tax liabilities.

In spite of the secrecy that the Russian government can show when it comes to cryptocurrencies, the result obtained in the Duma was surprising, since not only was the bill approved in the first discussion, but it was done almost unanimously. 410 parliamentarians voted in favor, while there was only one vote against, reports CoinTelegraph .

Although it had an overwhelming acceptance in parliament, the bill is not well regarded by all members of the industry. In March, Igor Sudets, a member of the Duma panel of experts on digital economy and blockchain, assured that "nobody will want" to launch an ICO in Russia once the initiative becomes law.

However, despite his statements, Sudets admitted that "it is important that Russian cryptocurrency and tokens are included in the legal field of the Russian Federation."

Russia has been characterized as a very controversial nation in terms of its laws and policies; and this bill is not the exception. It is also important to remember that this is not the only initiative that the country has had in regard to cryptocurrencies, since the government recently announced that it is considering launching a national digital currency.

However, that remains only an idea, and judging by how cautious the government has shown in terms of cryptocurrencies, it can be said that there is still a long way to go before digital currencies are part of the legal methods of payment within the former Soviet Union.