According to the local news outlet Ria Novosti report, The Digital Financial Assets Bill (DFA) is due to be read for the second time in the Russian parliament on July 21. The bill has removed references to administrative and criminal liability for dealing in bitcoin (BTC). A third and final reading will establish it as law. Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the parliament’s financial markets committee, said that “there will be no liability in this bill.”
The idea to penalize bitcoin users with fine and jail terms has been set aside.
Anatoly Aksakov, who is sponsoring the Digital Financial Assets Bill (DFA), said that there would be no liability in this bill. He further noted that the idea to penalize bitcoin investors with fines and jail terms had been set aside for the time being. “They’ve removed everything, there’s only a link that the regulation of digital currency will be determined in another law,” he further added. The earlier version of the bill had proposed fines of up to $7,000 or seven years in jail for individuals buying bitcoin with cash. It also planned to punish companies that issue or operate virtual currencies without approval from the Russian central bank, with fines of up to two million rubles or about $28,000.
The proposed law could be enforced by January 2021.
According to the initial version of the bill, companies would have to pay the equivalent of one million rubles ($13,900) and individuals at least 200,000 rubles ($2,800) “for violation of the rules for transactions with cryptocurrencies, if they are used as payment for goods or services.” Aksakov revealed that the revised draft law, in its current format, now deals with issues involving the definition of digital financial assets and establishes requirements for blockchain operations, among other matters. According to Aksakov,cthe proposed law to enter into force on January 1, 2021.
