Bank of Russia drafts first crypto market regulations
The Bank of Russia has published its first draft regulations to establish an organized cryptocurrency and digital assets market. The rules introduce strict equity requirements for depositories and clear trading modes for exchanges.
Setting the rules for digital vaults
The Bank of Russia has established a comprehensive framework for organized trading in digital currencies and digital rights, requiring each exchange to define its trading mode and calculate benchmark market prices.
Furthermore, the regulator introduced strict equity requirements ranging from 50 million to 250 million rubles for digital depositories that will record cryptocurrencies and digital assets.
These institutions must maintain liquid assets of high credit quality, operating on the same fundamental principles as traditional securities depositories.
Electronic platform operators face similar compliance standards, utilizing nominal accounts to settle digital financial asset transactions securely.
Building a regulated ecosystem
Beyond equity minimums, the central bank has established detailed protocols for recording digital currencies and maintaining depositories, including data composition rules for deponents and asset records.
The Bank of Russia will maintain the official register of authorized digital depositories to oversee market integrity.
All draft regulations are currently open for regulatory impact assessment to gather feedback from financial market participants before final implementation.
A long overdue framework
Russia is finally moving past legal ambiguity to establish formal cryptocurrency structures.
The stringent capital thresholds will likely weed out smaller, speculative market players immediately.
However, centralized supervision remains a double-edged sword for decentralized innovation.