Putin Gives July Ultimatum to Adopt Cryptocurrency Regulations in Russia

President Vladimir Putin has instructed the Russian government to adopt federal laws for cryptocurrency by July this year. Russia had earlier broadened its definition for digital financial assets to include cryptocurrency.

According to a document posted on the Kremlin website, Putin has approved a list of 47 orders which also include the formation of federal laws for cryptocurrencies. The order asks the government to work with the lower house of the parliament to formalize federal laws for the development and growth of digital assets in the country.

The order details,

“determining the procedure for conducting civil law transactions in electronic form, as well as regulating digital financial assets and attracting financial resources using digital technologies,”

The date of finalizing the law has been set to 1st July 2019 and the ministers in charge include the prime minister Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev and State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Viktorovich Volodin.

Changing Definitions of Digital asset in the Bill

The bill aimed at formalizing the crypto use in the country has seen several modifications and changes over the years. The original text for the bill has been revised and terms like token, smart contracts, mining and cryptocurrency has been removed. However, the legal definition of the digital financial asset has been modified to include cryptocurrencies.

This was not the first time when President Putin has pressed for regulating and formalizing the use of cryptocurrencies in Russia. Only last year, a similar order was put out which asked the central bank to work with the government and determine various parameter and status of digital assets in the country. However, the previous order did include terms like smart contracts and tokens.

Delays In Approval

In May last year, a total of three bills were introduced in the lower house of the Russian parliament to determine and formalize the regulations. However, the lawmakers failed to find a common ground to approve the bill. The bill is scheduled for a review again in March and many media outlets have claimed that the nill is almost in its final stage.

Medvedev said in January that there is no reason to bury cryptocurrencies.

“As with any social phenomenon, any economic institute, there are both bright sides and dark sides,”

Even earlier this month, the minister of justice voiced that cryptocurrency hasn’t reached a point where it is needed to be defined under the federal laws.