New Mining Bill Permitting Cross-Border Crypto Payments Filed in Russian Parliament

A draft law designed to regulate the mining of digital coins in Russia is also legalizing the use of cryptocurrencies in international settlements. It has been submitted to the Russian parliament after the rejection of an earlier bill which was aiming to allow domestic crypto payments as well.

Draft Legislation on Crypto Mining Allows Russian Residents and Businesses to Pay With Crypto Abroad

Russian lawmakers will review a new legislative proposal for the legalization of cryptocurrency mining, which has seen significant growth over the past few years. Announcing the filing of the bill on Sputnik radio, the Chair of the parliamentary Financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov pointed out that the document authorizes the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment outside the country.

“We have introduced a bill that legalizes mining, that is the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies. But cryptocurrencies can only be employed as a means of payment outside of our country, in foreign jurisdictions,” Aksakov explained, also quoted by RBC Crypto. In experimental mode, the digital assets may also be used to pay for parallel imports, the deputy added and emphasized:

This is a step that speaks of a new direction in the development of financial markets in our country.

Sanctions pressures have increased support for the idea of permitting cross-border crypto payments, but most government institutions in Moscow remain opposed to the legalization of payments with bitcoin and the like inside the Russian Federation. Another mining bill, put forward by the liberal New People faction, was rejected as it provided for the legalization of domestic crypto payments.

The latest draft law was announced last week by Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the Committee on Information Policy at the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, and member of the ruling conservative United Russia party. At the time, he noted that it is a more elaborate document, reflecting the opinions of the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance.

Gorelkin added that the federal law “On Mining in the Russian Federation” does not threaten the status of the Russian ruble as the only legal tender and creates the basis for the development of the country’s own crypto infrastructure. After months of deliberation, Russian lawmakers are also expected to review a bill “On Digital Currency” designed to more comprehensively regulate Russia’s crypto market than the current law “On Digital Financial Assets.”

Do you think Russia will start using cryptocurrencies in foreign trade after the adoption of the new crypto mining law? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’s quote: “Being 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.

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