0
0
A pro-business Russian lawmaker has welcomed the central bankās remarkable U-turn on crypto regulation as Moscow prepares to let retail investors buy Bitcoin and other high-cap tokens.
Anton Gorelkin, the first deputy chairman of the State Dumaās IT committee, noted that the Central Bank had been advocating a āban on cryptocurrencies for four years,ā Russiaās Parliamentary Gazette reported.
āThe central bank is now demonstrating a more balanced position,ā Gorelkin said. āThe bankās stance remains unchanged on just two points: that cryptocurrencies are high-risk instruments, and that they cannot be used for domestic transactions. But weāve never advocated for either of those things.ā
Gorelkin and others have been locked in a long impasse with the central bank, which called for a sweeping ban on crypto as recently as March.
The central bankās climbdown signals a potential green light for major commercial banks to begin offering customers crypto trading services.
Under the plans, revealed on December 23, the central bank wants to let both āqualified and unqualified investorsā buy crypto. When the central bank speaks about qualified investors, it refers to high-income individuals and professional investors. The term unqualified investors refers to retail investors.
However, the bank insisted that limits must be placed on the amount of money each class of investor is allowed to spend on crypto per year.
It is yet to disclose the full details of these limits. However, it noted some details of these proposals.
It said that retail investors will be granted access to the āmost liquid cryptocurrencies,ā but āonly after passing an eligibility test.ā It did not explicitly mention any cryptocurrency by name in its release.
It also proposed capping annual investment in crypto at just over $3,800.
The bank says it has sent a list of proposals to amend existing legislation to the government for consideration.
The central bank added that it continues to consider cryptocurrencies āhigh-risk instruments,ā adding that they are ānot issued or guaranteed by any jurisdiction, and are subject to increased volatility and sanctions risks.ā
āWhen deciding to invest in cryptocurrencies, investors should understand that they are assuming the risk of the potential loss of their funds,ā the bank said in a statement.
Tim Alper is a news correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email at tdalper@dlnews.com.
0
0
Manage all your crypto, NFT and DeFi from one placeSecurely connect the portfolio youāre using to start.
