Putin signs legislative amendment to ban cryptocurrency payments in Russia

Putin signs legislative amendment to ban cryptocurrency payments in Russia

Image via EPA-EFE

Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a legislative amendment bill that explicitly prescribes a ban on the use of Digital Financial Assets (DFA) and utilitarian digital rights as a means of payment in Russia.

The current legislation does not totally ban crypto and digital assets as a payment option. It does, however, say:

“It is forbidden to transfer or accept digital financial assets as a counter-provision for the transferred goods, work performed, services provided, as well as another method that allows assuming payment by the digital financial asset of goods (works, services), except in cases provided for by federal laws”. (Translated by Google Translate).

Furthermore, the legislative amendment bans the use of DFA and other digital tokens for the payment of goods and services and obliges exchange operators to refuse the acceptance of crypto assets as a monetary substitute in transactions. The law is said to come into force after 10 days of enactment.

In Russia, digital payments have been in the spotlight since the beginning of this year. The country went from President Putin backing crypto mining due to the availability of surplus energy and trained personnel, to a call for an outright ban on crypto in January, which ultimately did not go through.

In February, it was proposed to allow keeping Bitcoin and Ethereum as an investment, but not as tangible currency for trade. On the other hand, Binance and Coinbase declared that they would comply with U.S. and EU laws and regulations aiming to restrict widespread use by Russia.

Source: Decrypt