A new presidential decree has come into force in Russia, requiring public officials to declare their holdings in cryptocurrencies and digital assets, in compliance with Russia's federal crypto-asset law “On Digital and Financial Assets” (DFA).
The new decree, recently issued and signed by the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, establishes that all officials who hold public office in the country must report all their holdings in cryptocurrencies, The new measure is established in compliance with the nation's DFA law on digital assets, and will apply to all public officials, of any rank, who currently hold positions and those who are about to assume responsibilities in the country. Likewise, the new decree also requires that family members, spouses and children of public officials declare their holdings in cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
To make the declaration, officials and their relatives must fill out a fairly detailed form, which includes specifying the name of the cryptocurrency or digital asset, as well as the amount of cryptocurrency or asset owned, the equivalent amount in the national currency, the date of purchase and the place where it was acquired, either through a exchange, the activity of mining is. cryptocurrency, an inheritance, or any other means.
The new decree covers all forms of digital assets, including cryptocurrencies, digital securities and utility tokens.
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Monitoring the digital economy
Russia’s Digital Assets Act, or DFA, was passed by the State Duma in the middle of this year and will come into effect on January 1, 2021, giving legal status to cryptocurrencies and digital assets in the country, although prohibiting their use for the purchase of goods, products and services. In this regard, the DFA law allows the use of cryptocurrencies, tokens and other digital assets as store of value assets and as investment assets but not as a means of payment or exchange of value.
The presidential decree will also come into effect on January 1, 2021, and public officials, and their family members, will have until June 30 of that year to file their returns. Failure to do so, or hiding information related to their cryptocurrency holdings, will lead to sanctions and fines from the state.
According to previous statements by the Russian government, the new regulations established for the crypto space will allow for a healthy and responsible development of the digital industry throughout the national territory, without affecting the monetary sovereignty of the nation. Likewise, the new presidential decree establishes fair and impartial rules for all its citizens in relation to cryptocurrencies, whether they are ordinary users or public officials, without exceptions, which will also be favorable for the development of the industry, according to several experts.
Horizon of Russian regulations on cryptocurrencies
This 2020, the Russian government has been proposing several regulations applicable to the cryptocurrency industry and digital markets, such as the aforementioned DFA law, in addition to a bill that seeks to ban that miners receive the rewards from cryptocurrency mining, as well as develop a surveillance system that breaks with the privacy of cryptocurrencies such as Monero (XMR) y dash (DASH), which allow anonymous transactions on the network and can be used in illicit activities and financial crimes.
Likewise, the Russian Ministry of Finance presented a bill that seeks to establish criminal penalties for citizens who own cryptocurrencies and digital assets and evade paying taxes. This bill initially established that all citizens who carry out operations with cryptocurrencies with an amount equal to or greater than 600.000 Russian rubles, equivalent to about $7.800 USD, must declare taxes, otherwise they would face fines and criminal charges, with up to 3 years in prison. However, the Russian government later presented adjustments to this proposal, establishing penalties and fines of up to 10% on digital assets, for those who do not declare all of their cryptocurrency holdings and evade paying taxes in the country.
Cryptocurrency and blockchain adoption in Russia
On the other hand, the adoption of cryptocurrencies in Russia is growing, and even the renowned bank gazprombank announced that it will offer new Bitcoin-related financial services for its customers and users. For the month of September, a report posted by Chainalysis, a renowned blockchain research and analytics firm, noted that the Russian Federation was among the countries leading the adoption of cryptocurrencies globally, ranking second on this list.
Likewise, technology blockchain It plays a fundamental role in the future technological development of the country, and is considered one of the main priorities of the nation's state policy for the coming years. The Russian government has already been developing tests for the implementation of this technology for the development of a digital voting system, which saw its first days of life in the cities of Moscow and Nizhniy, although with less than encouraging results for the moment.
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