Russia Central Bank to Launch Crypto Exchange
Russia’s Ministry of Finance and central bank are reportedly preparing to launch a cryptocurrency exchange for qualified investors, operating under an experimental legal framework.
The new platform will target “super-qualified investors,” Finance Minister Anton Siluanov stated during a ministry meeting, according to April 23 reports from Russian media outlet RBC and news agency Interfax.
“Together with the central bank, we will launch a crypto exchange for super-qualified investors. Crypto assets will be legalized, and crypto operations will be brought out of the shadows,” he said in a statement translated from Russian, adding:
“Naturally, this will not happen domestically, but as part of the operations permitted under the experimental legal regime.”
Anton Siluanov said the Kremlin-backed crypto exchange would only be available to Russian investors meeting specific income and wealth requirements.
The Russian central bank previously outlined a proposal on March 12 that would allow a limited number of Russian investors to trade cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin under a three-year experimental regime.
As part of the proposal, a new category of investors — super-qualified investors — was introduced, defined by criteria including assets worth more than 100 million rubles ($1.2 million) or an annual income of at least 50 million rubles ($602,000).
The deputy director of the Finance Ministry’s financial policy department, Osman Kabaloev, clarified that the definition of a super-qualified investor is still under discussion, according to RBC.
“Perhaps it will be in this format, or these indicators will be somehow adjusted in one direction or another — this is possible, I think there will be a wide range of discussions,” Kabaloev said in a statement translated from Russian.
Russia banned the use of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin for payment purposes under its initial crypto legislation, which took effect in January 2021.
Since then, however, Russian officials have been exploring other avenues in the crypto space.
On April 16, Kabaloev suggested that the Kremlin should consider developing its own stablecoin, following the U.S. government's freezing of wallets associated with the sanctioned Russian exchange Garantex and stablecoin issuer Tether.
Meanwhile, on March 20, Evgeny Masharov, a member of the Russian Civic Chamber, proposed establishing a government-run crypto fund consisting of assets seized through criminal proceedings.
At the same time, lawmakers are advancing new legislation to recognize cryptocurrencies as property under criminal procedure law.
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/russian-ministry-finance-central-bank-launch-crypto-exchange
https://www.rbc.ru/quote/news/article/6808d5e79a79477222e2be86
https://www.rbc.ru/quote/news/article/6808fd559a79472921dc2e7e
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