Russian Finance Ministry hopes to clarify cryptocurrency regulation next year

The Russian Finance Ministry hopes to resolve the issue of legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies next year. This was stated by Ivan Chebeshkov, head of the ministry’s Department of Financial Policy, according to TASS.

In his words, clarity in regulation will provide clear rules of the game for business. Chebeshkov also noted that one cannot ignore ‘the fact that more than 10 million people hold crypto wallets’.

A Finance Ministry spokesperson said that the importance of adopting new legislative initiatives is driven by the need to increase tax revenues for the budget:

“We are losing, among other things, money for the budget, because companies and citizens operate in a grey legal area. Therefore there are no requirements for them to pay taxes on this.”

According to data from Bank of Russia, the annual volume of Russians’ cryptocurrency transactions is about $5 billion.

In December, the Federation Council announced the formation of a group to develop further regulation of cryptocurrencies.

The Russian Prosecutor General’s Office also reported that it is working on legislation in this area. The agency has already prepared norms that would allow the confiscation of digital assets. Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Alexander Bastrykin, endorsed the need to regulate the procedure for seizing cryptocurrencies.

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