The State Duma is discussing amendments to the second reading of the bill "On digital financial assets"

The State Duma is discussing possible amendments to the bill “On Digital Financial Assets”, according to whichForeign digital financial assets (CFA) will be admitted to cryptocurrency exchanges registered in Russia.

By CFA they mean analogues of debt receipts,bonds and equity rights. In other words, we are talking about tokens, although the term “token” is not in the bill. Earlier, rights to the blockchain, including property rights, also belonged to this category, but later they decided to change the definition.

Now the DFA (cryptocurrency) exchange operatorexchange) can be not only a bank or a trading organizer, but any legal entity that has a certain minimum authorized capital and net assets worth 50 million rubles or more, and also complies with all the rules established by law. According to the current version of the document, operators will be able to conduct purchase and sale transactions of digital assets, including transactions with digital financial assets that are issued in information systems based on a distributed registry. Capital requirements are so that in the event of unforeseen situations involving the loss of funds, the exchange can compensate for the damage from its reserves.

It is interesting that in the current version foreign DFAs were added, which were not in previous versions of the document. This may contribute to the influx of foreign investment in Russia.

“A Russian startup has the right to place itstoken on a cryptocurrency exchange, and a foreign investor buys it in exchange for digital rights,” — noted the head of the development department of the Skolkovo Foundation, Sergei Izrailit.

Along with this, lawmakers decided to introducethe concept of "digital currency", that is, "the totality of electronic data that is used in information systems and is offered as a means of payment", but it is not an official currency in the Russian Federation or abroad. Their creation or use in official CFA systems is prohibited.

Taxology Law Partner MikhailOuspensky draws attention to the fact that Bitcoin may fall under such an interpretation. However, according to him, the ban applies only to the circulation of digital currencies on platforms that will be used for the issue of Russian CFA.

“The bill says nothing about a total ban. Let’s hope that this is a conscious choice of officials,” — he commented.

However, a member of the expert council of the State Duma NikitaKulikov still warns that there may be an inaccuracy in the current version of the bill, and lawmakers imply a complete ban on the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia outside of the platforms officially registered with the Central Bank.

Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, noted that the current version of the bill is being approved. Its adoption is planned before the end of this year.

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