MOSCOW, July 26 The State Duma Committee on Financial Markets has prepared for the second reading a bill on cross-border settlements using digital currency within the framework of the experimental legal regime (ELR), which also provides for the possibility of holding exchange trading in such currency.
The current regulation prohibits the use of cryptocurrency in payments for goods, works and services. The bill introduces changes that allow the use of digital currency as a means of payment in foreign trade activities within the EPR. For this purpose, the Bank of Russia is vested with the functions of an authorized and regulatory body on EPR issues in the field of digital innovations in the financial market.
When preparing the bill for the second reading, the committee supported a number of amendments to the bill, including those amending the law «On organized trading» and allowing exchange trading in cryptocurrency within the framework of the EPR program.
«For the purposes of conducting organized trades in digital currency, the provisions of this program, establishing the conditions of the experimental legal regime in the field of digital innovations, may change or exclude the provisions of this Federal Law in terms of: 1) the procedure for admitting (terminating admission) digital currencies as a commodity to organized trades; 2) determining the requirements for trade organizers conducting organized trades in digital currency, including determining the cases when services for conducting organized trades in digital currency can be provided by the trading system,» the text of one of the amendments says.
The bill is planned to be submitted to the State Duma for consideration in the second reading on July 30, while its third reading is also possible. If adopted, the law would enter into force on September 1, 2024.