Andrey Tugarin: “It will not be possible to create crypto exchanges and crypto exchangers in the Russian Federation”

The bill, which yesterday, November 17, a group of deputies submitted to the State Duma, proposes to legalize mining as a type of activity. But there are nuances.

Andrey Tugarin, Managing Partner of GMT Legal, commented on the parliamentary initiative especially for Bits.Media:

The concept of mining is enshrined in legislation, it will be possible to mine both individuals and legal entities. The authors even prescribed taxation, which has a downside - it will be possible to officially take into account the costs of miners - they have been waiting for this for a long time.

A completely new and unusual phrase “prohibition of the delivery of digital currency for the organization of circulation” appears in the project. In my opinion, this is the most colorful part of the whole project. The wording clearly refers to the Bank of Russia and its position regarding the implementation of a “prohibited policy” regarding the circulation and legal status of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation.

This means that the creation of crypto-exchanges in the Russian Federation and crypto-exchanges in the Russian Federation using the Russian information infrastructure will be impossible. International platforms remain in force, the ban does not apply to them.

Nothing significant has changed, all these prohibitions already existed in their original form. Think back to the central bank’s methodological guidelines and its recognition that all digital currency transactions are a sign of money laundering or terrorist financing. These recommendations are on everyone's mind and are now reflected in the document. You can keep working, don't panic.

In order for the new norms to work, there is still a lot to be done, the bill involves many more changes, at least the introduction of an experimental legal regime. In reality, the law will work, according to my forecasts, in two years - with the intensive work of the government.

There is not a word in the text about liability for violating the norms of the law: neither criminal nor administrative. I think we will only talk about content restrictions, a la restrictions on alcohol advertising on federal TV channels, on YouTube, and so on.