While the head of the Bank of Russia, Elvira Nabiullina, once again calls the deadline for the introduction of the digital ruble, the Ministry of Finance seems to be seriously preparing to adopt a law to regulate crypto.
The transition to widespread use of a virtual version of the national currency will take from five to seven years, stated Nabiullina. Meanwhile, the Digital Assets Bill can accept during this year.
New dates for digital ruble
Currently, a virtual form of the national currency is being tested in Russia. In the near future, according to a representative of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the pilot project will be expanded.
Recently, the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Olga Skorobogatova, stated that as part of the pilot project, the regulator has already carried out about 25 thousand transactions with the new form of the national currency.
The results of the pilot will form the basis for further development and will allow us to determine the exact timing of scaling. But this will happen, as Nabiullina noted, no earlier than 2025. At the same time, a complete transition to the mass use of the new currency will take from five to seven years.
Earlier, economists from the National Research University Higher School of Economics conducted a study on the implementation of the virtual ruble. According to the most optimistic scenario, its share in Russians’ transactions could reach almost 41% in the first year of its existence. However, everything will depend only on how much the users like the figure.
The bill on crypto and mining will be adopted in 2024
In addition to the digital ruble pilot project, Russian authorities are trying to work on regulating the cryptocurrency market. It is reported that the Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank and Rosfinmonitoring have nevertheless reached a consensus on the main provisions of future legislation.
According to the director of the financial policy department of the Ministry of Finance, Alexei Yakovlev, the bill could be approved before August. Previously, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov, noted that regulation on cryptocurrencies and mining in Russia will be adopted in the spring session.
However, the focus of the legislation is on digital asset mining. It is likely that regulators will legalize the mining of crypto assets and oblige miners to declare income.
At the end of March, the Ministry of Energy of the Russian Federation proposed introducing a separate code for mining into the All-Russian Classifier of Types of Economic Activities (OKVED). According to some market participants, this will significantly help the development of the sector. The initiative could also be the first step towards normal regulation of the industry.
Source: Cryptocurrency
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