Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs asks Russian Prime Minister to expedite adoption of draft CFA bill

The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) sent a letter to Mikhail Mishustin with a requestto promote the adoption of the bill "On digital financial assets" in the spring session of the State Duma.

As Interfax reports, the sentThe letter to the Prime Minister was signed by the Chairman of the RSPP, Alexander Shokhin, as well as the co-chairman of the RSPP Coordination Council on digitalization issues and the President of Norilsk Nickel, Vladimir Potanin.

Back in 2018, the RSPP presented its versionbill on digital assets and, according to the letter, many of the comments from the business community were taken into account in the final version of the law. However, due to constant delays, it has not yet been adopted, and the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs has repeatedly asked to speed up its consideration. In its latest letter to Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, the RSPP notes:

"Understanding the complexity of the situation in which nowthe Russian economy is in connection with the pandemic, we believe that the adoption of the CFA law in the spring session (with a date of entry into force 6 months from the date of adoption) will allow businesses to use the key opportunities of digitalization for post-crisis recovery and further economic development. ”

RSPP also claims to provide businessthe possibility of issuing digital financial instruments will simplify fundraising and will provide an opportunity for "sustainable economic recovery after the devastating impact of a pandemic." The entrepreneurial community says that using digital assets will solve some problems with receivables, which greatly affect small and medium-sized businesses.

The letter says that now the business is tryingmaintain liquidity by seeking new markets. Many companies will be forced to turn to digitalization to stabilize and maintain access to customers. RSPP believes that "this powerful and unique digital trend should not be lost."

The head of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs, Alexander Shokhin, noted thatThe business community is concerned that the bill will again “get stuck” in the State Duma, since legislators are now occupied with other issues. Shokhin said that previously the Central Bank, the government and all interested parties were able to come to an agreement regarding the regulation of crypto assets, and now only an organizational decision remained to launch the review process. According to Shokhin, the government's position on this issue may become known this week.

According to Interfax, the letter was received by the government, where the digital agenda is supervised by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko.

Late last month, the committee chairmanState Duma on the financial market Anatoly Aksakov said that the adoption of the bill on regulation of digital assets is postponed, but the law will be adopted in the spring session. According to his estimates, the document will be sent to departments for voting in the second reading before the May holidays. Aksakov also noted that “satellite laws,” for example, a bill on crowdfunding, could also be adopted before the end of the spring session.

However, the head of the RSPP believes that now is too earlytalk about the demand for the mechanism and first we need to legalize it. According to the financial director of Qiwi Blockchain Technologies, Yakov Barinsky, the legalization of digital assets will provide the state with a mechanism to support citizens who, for some reason, cannot be paid money.

</p></p>