Russia Drops Plans of Building National Crypto Exchange, Will Work on Regulations Instead

As per the latest reports, the government of Russia has dropped its plans of building a national cryptocurrency exchange and plans to divert its focus elsewhere.

Anatoly Aksakov, the chairman of the State Duma’s financial market committee said that they would rather focus on building a regulatory framework that would help in guiding businesses running such crypto trading platforms.

Considering the global outreach of crypto exchanges and their role in cross-border transactions, they would be subject to certain restrictions. Aksakov also remained optimistic that the new rules and guidelines will unlock opportunities for businesses in the crypto space while expediting crypto acceptance nationwide.

As per the reports, Russia’s Ministry of Finance has also agreed to regulate crypto trading platforms. Also, the Central Bank of Russia shall be supervising all activities of crypto exchanges, and all specific details of crypto regulations will be incorporated into the draft law on experimental legal regimes.

Earlier this year in April 2023, the parliament of Russia published the first draft law considering the use of digital assets for cross-border transactions. This came as Russia has been facing heavy sanctions over its Ukraine invasion and has been barred from using Dollars and Euros for payments.

It has also come to light that in reality, the Ministry of Finance, did not endorse the creation of the national crypto exchange. Oleg Ogiyenko, the director for government relations at BitRiver, praised the current decision of having a regulatory framework in place.

Such an approach would have reduced risks of sanctions, concerns over market dominance, and cyberattacks on infrastructure. Furthermore, the proposal introduces specific criteria for foreign cryptocurrency exchanges aiming to operate in Russia. These regulations prioritize the security and privacy of information related to Russian customers. With Russia moving towards crypto regulations as the ninth most populous country, the global crypto community has welcomed its favorable approach.

In April 2023, Russia announced its intention to enable interoperability between its digital ruble platform and other central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).The ongoing development of the digital ruble involves implementing mechanisms to facilitate communication with other CBDCs. The Central Bank of Russia has informed lawmakers that they are currently exploring different models for CBDC interaction and considering various alternatives.