The proposal of the Central Bank to tighten the regulation of the cryptocurrency market in Russia does not concern the right of individuals to possession of such assets and investments in them, the prohibition will only be used by the Russian financial infrastructure for these purposes. Details of the initiative during a press conference on the Youtube Channel CB clarified the director of the Financial Stability Department of Elizabeth Danilova.
According to her, the Russians will be able to freely continue to conduct operations in foreign jurisdictions. However, Danilova added, the Central Bank still warns that cryptocurrencies carry significant risks – this is possible fraud, and difficulties with defending their rights to own them.
Prereparation of the prohibition will remove a significant part of risks and reduce the popularity of cryptocurrency among citizens, consider it to the Central Bank. For legal entities, the regulator would like to introduce fines for the reception cryptocurrency as a means of payment. The proposal also provides for monetary punishment for individuals and legal entities for mining.
Treat about the possibility of improving criminal liability for such actions Danilov refused, emphasizing that in the regulator tend to the idea of fines. At the same time, the representative of the Central Bank noted that the question should be discussed with other stakeholders, without specifying who means.
Previously, today, the Central Bank published a report for public consultations on the topic cryptocurrency. In particular, it is said that mining due to the high level of electricity consumption creates a threat to the energy supply of residential buildings, social infrastructure and enterprise buildings, and is contrary to the implementation of the environmental agenda.
However, the main claim was the use of cryptocurrency for criminal activity. In this regard, the regulator proposed to prohibit the use of the infrastructure of the Russian financial market for any operations with cryptocurrencies. Otherwise, they pointed to the Central Bank, risks from the participation of citizens in the global market cryptocurrency will increase significantly.
Meanwhile, Bloomberg argues that the cause of the initiative of the Central Bank was the position of the Federal Security Service (FSB), concerned about the growth of payments in favor of opposition organizations, which were considered illegal in Russia.