The Russian government has plans to create its own cryptocurrency exchange, as revealed by the Russian portal Vedomosti. The news is this Thursday (23) and talks about a possible exchange that would have 100% control in the hands of the Russian state. According to the article, the objective of the government of Vladimir Putin is to centralize negotiations on this platform. Cryptocurrency trading has increased since the start of the war with Ukraine, prompting Russians to turn to Bitcoin (BTC) and its peers to evade sanctions. But these operations take place in private exchanges or in the P2P market, whose transactions do not go through the government. Due to the huge increase in volumes, Russia now wants to bring this market within its legal purview. As reported by CriptoFácil, the Russian General Assembly (Duma) approved a bill in April that regulates cryptocurrencies in the country. The creation of a state-owned exchange is another step towards having more control over operations.
new russian state
As the cryptocurrency industry expands, authorities and organizations around the world are showing increased interest. With that, Russia went a step further by announcing the launch of a national cryptocurrency trading platform. Just as it did on the bill, the Duma started working on the regulations for the creation of the official exchange. Specifically, the creation of the exchange will be an amendment to regulations passed by the Duma in April. The document takes into account the position of the country’s market and is expected to be discussed between the State Duma and the Russian federal government. In addition, Duma deputies spoke with market participants about necessary changes to the law on “Digital Financial Assets”. But the meeting was not attended by representatives of the Central Bank or the Russian Ministry of Finance. The project does not establish whether the new state-owned exchange will have a monopoly on operations or will be just another market option.
Under the wings of the state
Sergey Altukhov, member of the Russian Monetary Policy Committee, defended the regulation and creation of the new exchange. The executive said that the intention is not to prohibit or restrict trade, but to bring it to countries close to the influence of the government. “It makes no sense to say that cryptocurrencies don’t exist, but the problem is that they circulate in great flux outside government regulation. We lost billions of rubles of budget revenue in the form of taxes, ”he said. According to him, Russia must have conditions that allow the legalization of digital currencies and the adjustment of the “rules of the game” in the legislative framework. In this sense, Altukhov defended that the new rules do not contradict the positions of the government and the Central Bank. In early June, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Duma’s Financial Markets Committee, hinted at the possibility of launching a Russian national cryptocurrency trading platform as part of the Moscow Exchange, which he called “a reputable organization with long traditions.” Now, it appears that the Duma has decided to create an exchange independent of the stock exchange.
