The law would force DFA managers to withhold any transactions so that crypto could be used as a financial replacement.
In recent months, Russian lawmakers have been preparing to fully institutionalize crypto as a properly taxable investment asset and a potential tool for foreign trade in Russia. Now, they want to make it clear that the upcoming regulatory shift will not include a window for accepting digital financial products as a payment method.
On Tuesday, June 8, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Financial Markets Committee of the State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, introduced a bill that would prohibit the use of “Digital Financial Activists” (DFA) for any kind of payment. Product or service. Mentioned as a cover note:
“The ruble is the official monetary unit (currency) of the Russian Federation. The aforementioned article sets a prohibition against introducing other monetary units or monetary surrogates on the territory of the Russian Federation.”
The bill mentions existing legislation, which does not explicitly prohibit the use of DFAs as a payment method, although de-facto such activities are still not considered legal in the country. The new document would make the ban official and force DFA exchange managers to suspend any agreement involving the use of crypto as a financial substitute.
The bill also presents the concept of an “electronic platform”, defined as a financial platform, investment platform, or information system where digital financial assets are issued. Electronic platforms will be recognized as part of the national payment system and will be required to submit to the central bank registry. With DFA, every major operation – their issuance, circulation, exchange, and trade – will have its own registry.
The existing Digital Financial Activities Act came into force in 2021. In May 2022, the tax amendment to the DFA passed the first lesson in the State Duma. In a separate development, two more important bills continue their journey through the legal process – a bill “on digital currency” would generally define the regulatory framework for crypto, while a bill would set guidelines for miners” on mining in the Russian Federation”.
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