Bills on the regulation of cryptocurrencies in Russia

According to a report by the Russian news site RBC, the State Duma, Russia’s parliament, has received a new set of bills on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The bills propose amendments to the Criminal Code of Russia and the Code of Administrative Offenses.

These include harsh fines and even prison sentences for individuals and companies that break the law. The changes will also ban initial coin offerings (ICOs) in Russia.

Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the Committee on Financial Markets of the State Duma, confirmed the authenticity of the projects, but said that the documents are not the final version.

Drafts on the regulation of cryptocurrencies

The issuance of cryptocurrencies and their use for payments would result in fines of 500,000 rubles ($ 7,000) for individuals and 2 million rubles ($ 28,000) for companies. Purchasing cryptocurrencies using Russian banks carries fines of $ 14,000 or a prison sentence of up to seven years, depending on the crime.

In addition, the illegal use of Russian facilities in the country for bitcoin mining is also punishable by severe fines.

The content of the new bills is similar to the warning of Alexey Guznov, a senior central bank official. If adopted, Russia would virtually impose a ban on cryptocurrencies in the country.