Russia is reportedly legalizing digital assets for cross-border settlements under a new agreement struck by the country’s top financial authorities.
According to a report by Russia-based publication Kommersant, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev says the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank have agreed on the new policy.
Says Moiseev in the report,
“It generally describes how to acquire cryptocurrency, what can be done with it, and how it can or cannot be settled with it in the first place in cross-border settlements.”
Moiseev previously said the country was going to move in this direction while making sure there were controls in place to prevent money laundering and illegal drug buying.
“Because the infrastructure that we plan to create is too rigid for the use of cryptocurrencies in cross-border settlements, which, of course, we must, first of all, legalize somehow. On the one hand, give people the opportunity to do it, on the other hand, put it under control so that there is no laundering, paying for drugs, and so on.”
He said it was necessary to give people in Russia the opportunity to open up cryptocurrency wallets.
“Now people open crypto wallets outside the Russian Federation. It is necessary that this can be done in Russia, that this is done by entities supervised by the Central Bank, which are required to comply with the requirements of anti-money laundering legislation, and first of all, of course, to know their client.”
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