According to a lawmaker working on developing crypto regulations, these digital financial assets, including crypto, could enable Russia to gain access to the global financial market, despite the sanctions imposed on the country. According to the official, the country needs to support crypto mining and has the capability of setting up local crypto exchanges. State Duma is the lower house of the parliament in Russia and of its members recently pointed out that the crypto space is one where imposing sanctions on the country is immensely difficult. Alexander Yakubovskystated that Russia was not lacking in the resources needed for setting up their own crypto exchanges and using alternative payment platforms and schemes.
The official did admit that global crypto exchanges, such as Binance, are dealing with increasing pressure to implement restrictions against the Russian Federation. He also said that at the same time that experts that are part of the leading crypto exchange in the world are giving advice to legislators in their efforts to develop a regulatory framework in Russia for crypto assets. A Duma working group has been given the task of developing comprehensive regulations for cryptocurrencies and Yakubovsky is part of the group. He stated that Russia could get access to the financial markets with the new legislation, despite the western governments trying to keep Moscow out of them.
He elaborated that this would depend significantly on the new framework’s effectiveness. The lawmaker added that a competent framework for these digital financial assets would help in minimizing the damage of the western sanctions that have been imposed against the country. The official also added that Russian crypto miners would continue to be part of the global mining space. He added that in terms of mining capacity, Russia had held the third spot last year and this indicated a huge amount of power.
The official also said that Russia also seems to have a surplus of electricity and it would not be wise to let it remain unused. The Finance Ministry of Russia is in favor of introducing regulation for crypto and monitoring it with strict rules. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Russia is on the opposite side, as it called for imposing a blanket ban on cryptocurrencies back in January. Yakubovsky was also asked abiut this situation and the deputy responded that there had been a change in the situation. He said that most of the other government bodies were in favor of regulation and the Russian authorities were moving forward with their legalization efforts.
Experts and lawmakers from different departments have been working to eliminate the gaps that remain in regulation after Russia had implemented the law ‘On Digital Financial Assets’ last year. A draft law was submitted by the Russian Ministry back in February to the federal government. This draft is named ‘On Digital Currency’ and its purpose is to legalize making crypto investments, but imposes a ban on using crypto as a payment method in the country, a stance that many other countries are also adopting.