The Ministry of Finance, Rosfinmonitoring and the Bank of Russia are developing a mechanism that will allow settlements with other countries in cryptocurrency. The measures should help increase imports, including with "unfriendly countries," Izvestia notes with reference to the document.
The authenticity of the document was confirmed to the publication by Rosfinmonitoring, noting that “work on it should be completed by the end of 2022.” The document will secure the legal status of trading platforms where trading will take place and digital assets will be stored. At the moment, the parties are discussing the parameters of regulation, according to Rosfinmonitoring. However, the sites themselves will definitely be held responsible for combating money laundering, as well as for the financing of terrorism.
The discussions of the departments so far rest on the mechanisms for conducting settlements between the actors. The creation of exchange trading is fraught with sanctions, experts interviewed by the publication note, since all transactions with cryptocurrencies are recorded in the blockchain, which is public and available to absolutely everyone. Therefore, the authorities are considering the option of creating a mechanism similar to the current gas payment scheme, when the buyer deposits funds into a special account within Russia, and only then receives his goods.
“In the current conditions, the state needs to give entrepreneurs maximum freedom, completely abolish penalties for possible violations of the law and allow them to pay for goods and services using digital currencies. At the same time, it is necessary that expenses can be confirmed by any possible means. Now the main thing is to saturate the market, and business will cope with this, if only to unwind the screws even to the detriment of momentary tax collection, ”Maxim Zotov, vice president of the Moscow Business Assembly (MDS), told the publication.
Experts see additional difficulties in the need to set cryptocurrency rates in rubles. The problem is that the admission of well-known cryptocurrencies to specially created sites will be fraught with sanctions risks, and in this case, you will have to create your own infrastructure, including the coins themselves. The way out of this situation could be the launch of the cryptoruble as a benchmark for the domestic crypto market. In addition, the Bank of Russia has recently changed its rhetoric regarding the crypto-ruble.
Analysts believe that the regulatory documents will include a rule on the admission of popular cryptocurrencies to Russian platforms, and trading in these instruments on Russian platforms will be limited. Moreover, for exporters who will receive such cryptocurrency, it is possible that they will introduce a standard for the sale of cryptocurrency proceeds – they will be required to sell it within a limited time in order to minimize sanctions pressure.
The Russian authorities are urgently looking for ways to restore import flows into the country. Sanctions and other restrictions led to a record trade surplus, which in turn strengthened the ruble too much. Exporters suffer from a strong national currency, importers cannot restore trade due to sanctions. Cryptocurrencies, as conceived by the Russian authorities, should become another payment method that could simplify this process.