Russia's Central Bank Writes New Bitcoin Law

Rage Review : According to Bloomberg and RBC News, Russia intends to enact new legislation for Bitcoin and other digital currencies. Olga Skorobogatova, deputy governor of the Russian Central Bank, detailed her agency's work on the new legislation at a parliamentary hearing, and Skorobogatova said on May 25 that the legislation may be introduced by the State Duma, Russia's national legislature, early next month. This shows that Russian official agencies have softened their attitude towards this field and are increasingly interested in this technology.

Translation: Clover

Russia’s Central Bank is preparing new legislation for Bitcoin and other digital currencies.

Although the plan does not appear to have been finalized, reports indicate that the Bank of Russia is planning to treat Bitcoin as a digital commodity and apply relevant tax policies. The legislation will also reportedly include specific terminology to determine how the government will monitor and regulate the domestic market.

What it is: Details about the legislation came from a parliamentary hearing, where Olga Skorobogatova, deputy governor of the Central Bank of Russia, detailed her institution’s work on the new legislation, according to news reports from Bloomberg and RBC.

Skorobogatova reportedly said on May 25 that the legislation could be introduced by Russia’s national legislature, the State Duma, early next month.

While the minutes of the May 25 meeting were not immediately available, both news sources cited comments Skorobogatova made last year, when she called for some level of tax and legislative recognition for cryptocurrencies.

According to Bloomberg, Skorobogatova said that cryptocurrencies “should be regulated because the volume of transactions has been growing compared to last year. If people participate in it, they have to pay, and we have to know how to control this activity.”

In April, it was reported that the push for new legislation had begun, but subsequent comments suggested the process might take longer than initially expected.

How it will happen: Anyone who has been following this space over the past few years will know that Russia has been getting closer to putting some kind of legislative framework in place for digital currencies.

Initially, the government seemed to be extremely harsh on the creation of this so-called “currency alternative” issuance. For a while, Russian officials publicly did not take the idea of ​​imposing prison sentences for crimes related to the technology very seriously.

That stance has largely softened in recent months, amid growing interest in blockchain among Russian central bank officials and the government itself.

For example, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has pushed for research into public applications of the technology.