Bank of Russia plans to restrict crypto-investors

Limit of 600 thousand rubles. per year for the purchase of digital financial assets for unqualified market participantswill start operating on January 1, 2021.

Unqualified investors will be able to buydigital financial assets (including tokens and cryptocurrencies) in the amount of no more than 600 thousand rubles. in year. The draft directive of the Bank of Russia states that without the involvement of professional market participants, it will be possible to acquire asset-backed cryptocurrencies, as well as the rights to participate in the capital of non-public companies.

Qualified investors will be able to purchasedigital assets in "information systems organized in accordance with foreign law." The document will come into force on January 1, 2021, the regulator accepts comments and suggestions to it until October 27.

There are several questions to the Central Bank project, notedRoman Yankovsky, member of the Commission on Legal Support of the Digital Economy of the Moscow Branch of the Russian Lawyers Association. Restrictions in classical areas, for example, when buying shares, only apply to the types of securities that can be bought, he explained. For example, only qualified investors in Russia can buy closed-end fund units. In the case of CFA, we are talking about limiting the total value of assets.

"The question arises: what to do if the value of assets rises. For example, I bought 500 thousand rubles each, and now they cost 800 thousand rubles? What if there is no clear course? They don't have to bargain somewhere. It could have been a local placement, and the tokens did not go to the exchange. Accordingly, they have no market price. There are different rates on different exchanges, the question is, which of them should be used to calculate these 600 thousand rubles? The upper threshold for buying is not a very common measure and is relatively new for the Russian market, ”Yankovsky stressed.

The limit is 600 thousand rubles. on investments in CFA mirrors the same restriction under the crowdfunding law. Within the meaning of the Central Bank's instructions, the threshold is 600 thousand rubles. is absolute - it is impossible to purchase CFA within a year and pay for them with money or other CFA worth more than this amount, explained Dmitry Kirillov, senior lawyer of tax practice Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner (Russia), teacher at Moscow Digital School. Each CFA exchange operator is obliged to collect assurances from investors that transactions on its platform do not exceed the specified threshold, taking into account past investments.

Kirillov called the threshold of 600 thousand rubles, or approximately 0.7 BTC for individual entrepreneurs and individuals who irregularly invest in high-risk assets, quite "an adequate guard against loss of funds."

Those who wish to invest large sums canfulfill the conditions for their recognition as qualified investors. To do this, you need to have money or securities in the amount of 6 million rubles or more or experience working with securities / PFIs or specialized education. If these conditions are met, the operators of the issue and exchange of CFA have the right to recognize investors as qualified simply by their application, so it will not be too difficult to raise the investment threshold, Dmitry Kirillov explained.

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