Russians can not legally buy a cryptocurrency without intermediaries

Hello. Citizens of Russia will be able to buy and sell crypto-currencies and tokens only through professional participants in the securities market, according to the draft law "On Digital Financial Assets" published on the website of the Russian Ministry of Finance.

According to the document, owners of tokens and crypto currency will be able to change them to other tokens and crypto-currencies, and also buy and sell them for rubles or currency "only through the operator of exchange of digital financial assets".

The document states that such operators can be professional participants of the securities market who have a license for brokerage, dealer activities and the activities of a forex dealer, as well as trade organizers. At the same time, the organizers of trades, on which exchange of digital financial assets can occur, will have to register special rules for such operations in the Central Bank.

In late December, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said that operations with the crypto currency could be made through organizations that have a stock exchange license. "These can be any commodity exchanges, or simply exchanges, or central counterparties, or anyone who has such a license," he explained. The Bank of Russia does not support the proposal to legalize the trade in crypto-currencies, the deputy minister said in January 2018.

Specialists noted that the organization of a state-controlled system of purchase and sale of crypto-currencies inside the country can help resolve the issue of how to detect the presence of crypto-currencies in civil cases, as well as for tax purposes. "The problem of accounting for crypto currency in the property can be solved if a mechanism is developed that allows to control transactions on the acquisition and sale of crypto currency with the possibility of identifying the parties," noted Heads Consulting lawyer Ksenia Stepanova. The state has an interest in collecting taxes from the profits from operations, so the centralized organization of the turnover of crypto-currency is quite logical, said the founder of the group of companies Blockchain.ru Dmitry Matsuk. At the same time, this problem does not completely solve, because "no one will be able to prohibit the transfer of the crypto currency from one person to another bypassing the exchange," the expert believes.

According to the bill, investors who are not qualified, will be able to purchase in the same release tokens worth not more than 50 thousand rubles. The bill also emphasizes that digital financial assets are not a legal means of payment in the territory of Russia.

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