The Russian State Duma committee is scheduled to submit a new preliminary law on the regulation of cryptocurrencies, including ICOs and trading platforms, by December 28th.
The latest draft will define cryptocurrencies as “property of a special kind” and will require entities who raise funds through ICOs to follow set procedures including central registration.
Mining of currencies though is not expected to be covered in the regulations as it is viewed by the committee as “an entrepreneurial activity.”
“Investors Must Be Limited”
Anthony Akasov, the head of Financial Markets Committee in the lower house of the Federal Assembly, spoke of his concern for crowdfunding projects and the exploitation of unsophisticated investors stating that “investors must be limited in the amount they are allowed to invest in each project.”
Despite this talk of imposed protection, the new rules will provide cryptocurrencies and tokens with legal grounds and a framework to operate within the country.
Russia have softened their stance on digital assets considerably since 2015 when the Russian Finance Ministry initially sought to imprison Bitcoin adopters for 7 year sentences.
Mr Akasov concluded that the committee would continue to evaluate other options before the new rules were passed into legislation by the end of Q1 2018.
