Mikhail Delyagin: “Russians will retain the right to store virtual currencies”

The Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy said that the bill banning the use of digital assets as a means of payment would not limit the right of Russians to store them.

The State Duma adopted in the first reading a bill that directly prohibits the use of digital financial assets (DFA) and utilitarian digital rights (UTR) as a means of payment in Russia. Commenting on the results of the discussion of the bill in the lower house of parliament, MP Mikhail Delyagin explained journalists that the new law does not impose bans on the storage of digital financial assets. Any DFA and UPD can be purchased and stored in any quantities, but it will be expressly prohibited to use them as a means of payment.

“It is prohibited to transfer or accept digital financial assets as a consideration for goods transferred, work performed, services provided, as well as in any other way that allows one to assume payment for goods (works, services) by a digital financial asset,” the draft law says verbatim.

Mikhail Delyagin shares the position of Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Financial Market Committee of the State Duma, who is the initiator of the bill.

“Cryptocurrencies have entered life, and from this life they will not go anywhere. Accordingly, they need to be regulated. If someone wants to pay with a crypt for something in the Russian legal field, then this will be wrong. You will not be able to pay with digital financial assets in order to compete with the ruble and undermine the ruble, ”Delyagin explained the reason for the appearance of the bill.

According to research by RTM Group for 2021, the number of litigations in Russia involving cryptocurrencies increased by 40% compared to 2020.