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The Russian government has, on many occasions, stated that it would introduce a cryptocurrency for global trade in 2019, and the time seems to arrive finally. As per recent reports, Russia will launch its cryptocurrency in the next two weeks.
Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister, Alexei Moiseev informed that the State Duma, the country’s parliament, is considering the bill on Digital Financial Assets (DFA) and is likely to adopt the bill within the next two weeks. According to him, authorities have already approved separate legislation for ICOs, and it will be a part of the Russian laws on crowdfunding initiatives. Moiseev further added,
Now we are looking at the text [of the bill on digital financial assets] and within two weeks, I hope, we will come out for adoption in the second reading.
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Russia has been a crypto friendly nation, and its state head, President Vladimir Putin himself has been a strong advocate of digital currencies. The efforts to adopt cryptocurrencies were ramped up after Washington imposed sanctions on the country. Since then, Putin has strongly professed cryptocurrencies as an alternative to the US Dollar, the dominant currency in global trade.
However, though favorable for digital tokens, Russia has come out strongly against Facebook’s recently launched cryptocurrency, Libra. Authorities in the country have strongly criticized the token and are considering it as a threat to the financial system. Nonetheless, though it may not be legalized yet, Russians can still buy and sell via various online crypto trading platforms.
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Chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Financial Market Anatoly Aksakov stated that the country is not yet considering cryptocurrencies based on a public blockchain. He further said,
In theory, we should talk about the possibility of organizing all kinds of exchanges, trading platforms, and sales of such currencies. We, I believe, will limit or prohibit the creation of such sites. Those who want to acquire these tools using foreign legislation can do it at their own risk.
