State Duma passes law legalizing cryptocurrency in Russia

The State Duma has passed a law legalizing cryptocurrency in Russia.

It recognizes digital currencies as property and introduces judicial protection of rights to them. The regulator has been designated as the Bank of Russia, which will maintain registries of crypto exchangers and digital depositories.

The main points:

▪️ Non-qualified investors, after passing a test, will get access to liquid assets with a limit of 300,000 rubles per year through each intermediary;

▪️ For the broad range of participants, cryptocurrencies will be available only as an investment instrument; paying with them is prohibited. An exception has been made only for participants in foreign economic activity and crypto exchangers, which will be able to pay with crypto for securities, digital rights, and other digital currencies;

▪️ Services of intermediaries between the exchange and investors in the local crypto market will be provided by brokers and asset management companies. They will also be able to act as intermediaries between Russian clients and foreign infrastructure for crypto trading. To do this, they will need to obtain licenses in addition to their existing ones;

▪️ Crypto exchangers will have to officially register and comply with capital requirements;

▪️ Organized trading will be possible only with coins that have high market capitalization and liquidity, as well as a long pricing history. These criteria are met by bitcoin, ethereum, and the stablecoin USDT.