Russia proposes allowing traditional exchanges to handle crypto trading

Russia’s Ministry of Finance has proposed allowing traditional exchanges to handle digital asset trading for select investors, Interfax reported on July 10.

A government draft response to two pieces of regulation outlines the possibility of creating special regulations for “conducting organized trading in digital currency, recognized as a commodity, on the basis of an exchange license or a trading system license.”

The description only extends the license or qualifications “to a limited circle of ‘particularly qualified’ investors” and does not include qualification criteria.

According to the report, the Russian Central Bank’s register of licenses of exchanges and trading systems includes seven companies: Moscow Exchange, St. Petersburg Exchange, St. Petersburg International Mercantile Exchange (SPIMEX), St. Petersburg Currency Exchange (SPCE), Eastern Exchange, National Commodity Exchange, and CTS Exchange.

Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov told the newswire that the largest Russian exchanges could already support crypto flows and companies could “immediately join the process” under appropriate legal conditions.

Aksakov added that certain exchanges are already conducting work related to the matter.

Experimental regime

The government response containing the exchange proposal also addresses crypto mining regulation and crypto settlements in an experimental legal regime.

The latest draft response describes a recognized status for digital currencies and “the possibility of carrying out foreign exchange transactions with digital currencies, including the use of digital currency as a means of payment under foreign trade agreements (contracts).”

Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin ordered Russia’s Ministry of Finance, central bank, and other entities to create an international crypto payment mechanism in 2022. Legislation could grant the central bank the right to develop an experimental international crypto settlement platform starting in September.

The latest draft response asserts that general, not specialized, regulation could accommodate digital asset payments in foreign trade if the assets gain the proper status.

Russia is also considering legalizing stablecoin use for international payments and has plans to advance the use of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).