According to the draft law, tokens and any other digital financial assets may be exchanged for Roubles, foreign currencies and other assets only via a dedicated operator for the exchange of digital financial assets.
The Russian Ministry of Finance expects that the law on digital financial assets, which also establishes a legal framework for cyber-currencies and for mining, will come into force in September 2018.
There might be a 90-day transition period as it follows from the notice of the bill. Public debate of the regulation was held in mid-February 2018. The Ministry of Finance published a draft «On Digital Financial Assets» on January 25. According to the document, tokens and other digital financial assets may be exchanged for Roubles, foreign currencies and other assets only via a dedicated operator for the exchange of digital financial assets.
The draft also sets limits for the amount that the unqualified investors will be able to spend during an ICO (initial offering of tokens to attract financing) by 50.000 Roubles (or just over EUR 700).
However, the Finance Ministry and the Bank of Russia have not yet come to terms on the prospects of exchange from a cyber-currency into Roubles and other assets. In the opinion of the CBR, such transactions would only be allowed in respect of tokens. The Ministry of Finance, in its turn, insists that the use of cyber-currencies as a means of payment in Russia is not expected. The authorities are now finalising the draft, which should establish the concept of the «coin surrogates» in the legislation along with the responsibility for their use as a means of payment.
