The ban on the purchase of cryptocurrency and mining in Russia. What does it mean?

On March 12, the Central Bank issued its amendments tothe bill on digital financial assets, in which he proposed to limit purchases of cryptocurrency assets for unqualified investors. Simply put - keep track of all transactions made with the participation of cryptocurrency. The draft law was at the disposal of the editorial board of Hi-News.ru, and today we will try to figure out what the public is actually threatening to adopt. And in general, whether such a law is needed.

What happened?

Over the past two years, the State Duma has been tryingto issue a law on the regulation of cryptoindustry in Russia. According to the legislators, the absence of a legislative base in this direction threatens the development of the shadow economy and the simplification of the laundering of proceeds from crime. The bill has already been sent back for revision several times - most recently in January of this year. Then, in the new version, any rights made through the blockchain began to be understood as digital financial assets.

And what now can not buy a cryptocurrency?

Not really. According to the content of the bill, the Central Bank will allow even “unqualified” investors to buy cryptoactive assets within a certain amount per year. Specific data has not yet been named, but the head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market hinted that it was about 600 thousand rubles of investments in crypto assets during the year.

And who are the "qualified" investors?

To become such an investor,you must have a qualification certificate or have investment experience of a year or experience in a profile from two years in an organization that is a qualified investor in accordance with the law. Unqualified investors include the majority of individual investors, primarily individuals.

What other restrictions will impose for ordinary investors?

In the instructions of the Central Bank said that it is plannedlimit the amount of cash transferred in payment for the purchase of cryptocurrency assets, the total value of digital assets (for example, tokens) and the value of the cryptocurrency. In the latter case, we are talking about those cryptocurrencies that can be issued in Russia under the law.

Is that now, all transactions will be tracked?

According to this law, investors are stillwill be able to buy digital assets without intermediaries from qualified investors (but within a certain amount). At the same time, the exchanges will still have to keep track of all transactions and share this information with each other in order to calculate the total value of assets purchased by an unqualified investor. This provision, in particular, was introduced in the latest edition of the bill.

How does anyone know that I bought a cryptocurrency?

If you do this through a foreign exchange (orjust for the contractual relationship), track will not work. As with the purchase of cryptocurrency for cash or money received through mining. It is impossible to track the amount of cryptocurrency of a particular person now - unless the officials oblige banks to “merge” information on the purchase of a crypt from a bank card. Or they will begin to block all foreign exchanges (but, using the example of Telegram, everyone already knows how this works). Then the whole sector will simply go into the shadow, where it is now and without it (80 percent).

Then what's the point?

The law is primarily aimed at regulatingmarket relations with assets that will be issued by legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and foreign companies operating under Russian law. Each “digital financial asset exchange operator” will be entered by the Central Bank in a special register.

Wait a minute After all, it is impossible to buy cryptocurrency in Russia legally!

Exactly. In Russia, there are currently no legal exchanges or brokers who sell cryptocurrency, report on their operations to the FTS, and so on. And since no one buys a crypt through official channels in the Russian Federation, it is generally unclear what they are going to monitor.

Is this mining too banned?

No, because there is no such definitionlegislative basis. And while it is not clear how this will be implemented. Under the new law, only legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, including foreigners, will be able to issue cryptoactive assets. For transactions with the CFA, it is assumed to use not a decentralized system typical of blockchain systems, but only a private distributed information system.

But this kills the whole essence of cryptocurrency!

In fact, yes, after all, the blockchain implies decentralization, while the Central Bank wants to create a unified database of operators where cryptoactive assets can be purchased.

Is all this so necessary?

According to the regulator, the appeal of privateCryptocurrencies that are not secured and guaranteed by any state carry high risks for both consumers and investors, and operations with cryptocurrencies can be used to launder the proceeds of crime.

What is happening now?

The bill on digital financial assets onin fact, it was already adopted by the State Duma in the first reading. The second reading was repeatedly postponed due to amendments - the law caused a lot of criticism due to the large number of flaws. Nevertheless, in the second reading the bill was also passed this week. According to the order of the President of the Russian Federation, the final norms of regulation of the cryptocurrency sphere should be introduced no later than July 1, 2019. That's just what they will regulate - is still unclear. Now it looks more like a struggle with what is not: you cannot buy a cryptocurrency through official channels, and the officials want to limit the purchase through these channels. Quare?