Russian laws on digital assets, crowdfunding and digital rights adopted

The Russian draft law on digital financial assets no. 419059-7 has been adopted on first State Duma reading, as reported by the social media of the Russian Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Association (RACIB). The screens of the voting system demonstrated by the RACIB tell that the vote had been almost unanimous, with one lawmaker voting against.

Another law on crowdfunding (no. 419090-7) has also been implemented. Not a single State Duma member voted against the law, same can be said about the third set of legal measures (no. 424632-7) on digital rights which has been adopted almost simultaneously.

As a reminder, three laws have recently been described in detail by Anatoly Aksakov, State Duma Financial Market Committee Chairman. He was also the one who proposed a tax exemption for miners during the hearings. In short, one can state that the Russian Federation had just chosen the approach resembling that of South Korea: the market is allowed to operate, but the government demands less anonymity and reserves the right to be the arbiter of the market.

Cryptocurrencies are now digital assets by the Russian law, the buy-and-sell deals are to be made through exchange platforms. The Central Bank will form a white list of such platforms by consulting with the government. The future legal status of big foreign exchanges (Coinbase, Gemini etc.) remains unknown.

There will be some restrictions for ICO businesses. The founders of such coin offerings will have to possess a clear business strategy they are strongly recommended to present to the public. The qualified investor barrier is not implemented after all.

More details are coming soon in the next reports and articles by Bitnewstoday.

Image: World Bank Group