Russian Legislative Assembly Passes Blockchain Bill
Blockchain technology is seeing worldwide adoption, and the latest country to join the list of nations entering this bandwagon is Russia. It is utilizing the respective technology to its complete potential. As per an article published by Interfax, the State Duma of Russia approved blockchain-centered legislation in the initial reading.
Russia’s Legislation for Blockchain Clears 1st Parliamentary Phase
The members proposed the legislation in the country’s State Duma back in 2022’s October. The bill is focused on providing the financial market members to combine their activities with blockchain entities. The State Duma is known as the legislative authority of the parliament in Russia. The members of the Duma approved the legislation on the initial reading.
After clearing the 1st phase, the legislation will be forwarded to the committee phase. The Financial Marketplace, following being launched back in 2020, permits residents to buy diverse financial products at any time.
Nonetheless, the members were not formerly permitted by the regulatory entities of the country to combine the activities thereof with the technology of the blockchain sector.
However, the bill will legalize the utilization of blockchain if it turns into a law. In the legislation, it is noted that the respective innovation will be beneficial for establishing exclusive business models for the financial market in line with the digital conversion of the services related to finance.
As per the reports, the country is operating in collaboration with Iran for the development of a gold-supported stablecoin named “Token of the Persian Gulf.”
Back in 2022’s November, a member of the State Duma referred to their endeavors to introduce a crypto exchange platform that would operate countrywide. The reason behind this move is the viewpoint of the Russian authorities regarding taxation. They think that it is an opportunity for them to collect several billion rubles in revenue via taxation.
Experts Raise Concerns over Russia’s Launch of a CBDC
According to the experts, the commercial banks in Russia will lose up to $684M per year if the Central Bank of the country introduces a central bank digital currency (CBDC). However, the central bank is against the adoption of Bitcoin (BTC) and other such assets, which are named “private cryptocurrencies.”
However, the bank intends to correct the procedure of releasing a digital ruble for the de-dollarization of the country’s national economy. It was reported that the exclusive proposal of the central bank had witnessed reintroduced calls for a prohibition on the entirety of the domestic transfers of crypto assets.
The reports referred to Elvira Nabiullina (the crypto-skeptic governor of the Russian central bank), who stated that the banking organization had not altered its stance. The governor mentioned that the bank’s approach toward the crypto assets’ utilization of the internal settlements and the local market is negative.
As per Nabiullina, the strategy for releasing stablecoins also appears distant with the requirement of additional study on it. The bank expects to launch pilot projects for a CBDC in the current year. But, experts believe that this move could be harmful to the country’s economy.
Yakov and Partners (a business strategy company based in Moscow) reportedly estimated that huge losses would be witnessed by the bans if they moved forward with this strategy. Sberbank, the largest bank in the country, also repeated the analogous cautions. It has asserted that it could experience a loss of up to $54B if a CBDC is issued by the central bank.
