Russia Begins Developing Mechanisms for International Crypto Payments – Finance Bitcoin News

Financial authorities in Russia have begun work on a mechanism to facilitate the use of cryptocurrencies for settlements with other nations amid sanctions. The country’s central bank and finance ministry have already agreed on a draft law regulating crypto payments across national borders.

Regulators in Russia are moving towards legalizing the use of cryptocurrency in foreign trade

Russian authorities intend to regulate the issuance, circulation and various operations of digital assets, including international crypto payments, by the end of 2022. The Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank of Russia and the Rosfinmonitoring agency have taken on the task, the financial watchdog told the Izvestia newspaper.

“The activities of organizations that will carry out exchange operations with digital currency, its transfer and storage, and providers of virtual asset services should be subject to regulation, including the registration or licensing of such persons and their supervision,” explained Rosfinmonitoring, adding that their responsibilities should also include combating money laundering.

The current version of the bill “On Digital Currency”, put forward by the Ministry of Finance earlier this year and revised with input from other authorities, provides for the establishment of domestic infrastructure for trading in crypto-assets. Now Russian regulators have turned their attention to the settlement mechanism for cryptocurrency payments in foreign trade.

The Ministry of Finance and the central bank agree on a law that allows cross-border crypto settlements

This week, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev revealed that his department and the Bank of Russia have reached an agreement in principle on new legislation authorizing international cryptocurrency payments.

Earlier in September, the two institutions concluded that Russia “cannot do without cross-border crypto payments” in the face of increasing sanctions. Quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency and the Kommersant business newspaper, the government official said:

We now have a bill that has already been agreed with the central bank. It generally describes how to acquire cryptocurrency, what can be done with it, and how it can or cannot be used, initially in cross-border settlements.

At the same time, according to a report by RBC Crypto, Moiseev admitted that the problem of “input and output to fiat” remains to be solved. Next, experts will have to determine the minimum infrastructure that Russia needs to create in order to implement such cryptocurrency payments.

The Ministry of Finance and the Monetary Authority have also agreed on a bill on cryptomining that will legally define the business. The deputy minister noted that the question of whether miners should credit the minted digital coins to wallets in Russia or abroad has so far been decided in favor of the second option.

Do you think Russia will legalize and regulate cross-border crypto payments by the end of the year? Tell us in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’ quote: “To be a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, international politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.