Russia’s Finance Ministry has proposed letting traditional exchanges handle digital asset trading for selected investors, Interfax reported on July 10.
A draft government response to two pieces of regulation outlines the possibility of creating special regulations for “conducting organized trading in digital currencies, recognized as commodities, on the basis of an exchange license or a trading system license.”
The description only extends the license or qualifications “to a limited circle of ‘particularly qualified’ investors” and does not include any qualification criteria.
According to the report, the register of licenses for exchanges and trading systems of the Russian Central Bank includes seven companies: Moscow Exchange, St. Petersburg Exchange, St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX), St. Petersburg Currency Exchange (SPCE), Eastern Exchange , National Commodities Exchange and CTS Exchange.
Chairman of the State Duma Financial Markets Committee Anatoly Aksakov told the newswire that the largest Russian exchanges could already support crypto flows and that companies could “immediately participate in the process” under appropriate legal conditions.
Aksakov added that certain exchanges are already carrying out work related to this issue.
Experimental regimen
The government response with the exchange proposal also addresses the regulation of crypto mining and crypto settlements in an experimental legal regime.
The final draft answer describes a recognized status for digital currencies and “the ability to conduct currency transactions with digital currencies, including the use of digital currencies as a means of payment under foreign trade agreements (contracts).”
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin instructed the Russian Finance Ministry, central bank and other entities to create an international crypto payment mechanism by 2022. Legislation could give the central bank the right to develop an experimental international crypto settlement platform from September.
The final draft response states that general, rather than specialized, regulations could facilitate payments of digital assets in foreign trade if the assets are given the appropriate status.
Russia is also considering legalizing the use of stablecoin for international payments and has plans to promote the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).