On March 12, the central bank issued its amendments to the digital financial assets bill, in which it proposed to restrict the purchase of cryptocurrency assets for unqualified investors. To put it simply, keep track of all transactions made with the participation of cryptocurrencies. The draft law was at the disposal of the editorial board, and today we will try to figure out what its adoption actually threatens the population with. And in general, is such a law necessary?
What happened?
Over the past two years, the State Duma has been trying to issue a law regulating the crypto industry in Russia. According to the legislators, the lack of a legislative framework 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 submitted for revision several times - the last time in January this year. Then, in the new version, digital financial assets began to be understood as any rights issued through the blockchain.
And now you can't buy cryptocurrency?
Not really. According to the content of the bill, the Central Bank will allow even “unqualified” investors to buy cryptoassets within a certain amount per year. Specific data have not yet been named, but the head of the State Duma Committee on the financial market hinted that we are talking about 600 thousand rubles of investments in crypto assets during the year.
Promotional video:
And who are “qualified” investors?
In order to become such an investor, you must have a qualification certificate or have an investment experience of at least a year or work experience in a profile of at least 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 be introduced for ordinary investors?
The instructions of the Central Bank say that it is planned to limit the amount of funds transferred in payment for the purchase of cryptocurrency assets, the total value of digital assets (for example, tokens) and the cost of the cryptocurrencies themselves. In the latter case, we are talking about those cryptocurrencies that can be issued in Russia within the framework of the law.
Is it now that all operations will be monitored?
Under this law, investors will still be able to buy digital assets without intermediaries from qualified investors (but within a certain amount). At the same time, exchanges will still have to track 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 version of the bill.
How does anyone know that I bought a cryptocurrency?
If you do this through a foreign exchange (or simply by contractual relationship), you will not be able to track anything. As with buying cryptocurrencies for cash or with funds obtained through mining. It is now impossible to track the amount of cryptocurrency in a particular person - unless officials oblige banks to "drain" information about buying crypto from bank cards. Or they will even start blocking all foreign exchanges (but by the example of Telegram, everyone already knows how it works). Then the entire sector will simply go into the shadows, where it is now without it (80 percent).
Then what's the point?
The law is primarily aimed at regulating market relations with assets that will be issued by legal entities, individual entrepreneurs and foreign companies operating under Russian law. Each "operator of the exchange of digital financial assets" will be entered by the Central Bank in a special register.
Wait. After all, you can't legally buy cryptocurrency in Russia
Exactly. In Russia, there are now no legal exchanges or brokers that sell cryptocurrency, report on their operations to the Federal Tax Service, and so on. And since no one buys crypto through official channels in the Russian Federation, it is generally unclear what they are going to track.
Is it that mining is also banned?
No, since there is no such definition in the legal framework. And it is not yet clear how this will be implemented. Under the new law, only legal entities and individual entrepreneurs, including foreigners, will be able to issue cryptoassets. For transactions with DFA, it is assumed to use not a decentralized system typical for blockchain systems, but only a private distributed information system.
But this is killing the whole essence of cryptocurrencies
In fact, yes, because the blockchain assumes decentralization, while the Central Bank wants to create a single base of operators where the purchase of cryptoassets can be carried out.
Is all this so necessary?
According to the regulator, the circulation of private cryptocurrencies, which are not backed by anything and are not guaranteed by any state, carries high risks for both consumers and investors, and operations with cryptocurrencies can be used to launder proceeds from crime.
What is happening now?
The bill on digital financial assets has actually already been passed by the State Duma in the first reading. The second reading was repeatedly postponed due to amendments - the law drew a lot of criticism due to a large number of shortcomings. Nevertheless, in the second reading, the bill was also adopted this week. According to the order of the President of the Russian Federation, the final regulation of the cryptocurrency sphere should be introduced no later than July 1, 2019. It's just that they will regulate - it is still unclear. Now it looks more like a fight against something that does not exist: you cannot buy cryptocurrency through official channels, while officials want to limit purchases through these channels. Quare?
Author: Alexander Bogdanov
