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Russia prohibits the use of digital financial assets as a means of payment and limits 10,000 rubles for each project, about 130 euros at the current exchange rate, the purchase of tokens in ICOs (Initial Currency Offer) to non-accredited investors. This is part of the bill on digital financial assets that has been sent to the Lower House of the Russian Parliament on March 20. The legal document that has reached the Duma and could be approved in the summer, has its origin in a previous text drafted by the Ministry of Finance and the Russian Central Bank last January.

Despite the pioneering and innovative nature of the document, the prohibition in the text of the use of digital assets as a means of payment in the Russian Federation is striking. In such a way, that both cryptocurrency and tokens, can only be used in Russia as a deposit of value or financial asset, but not as a means of payment.
 
On the meaning of the wording that this section may have in practice, Rafael del Castillo Ionov, an expert lawyer in international transactions with cryptocurrencies and a good connoisseur of everything that happens in the Russian market, since it has an office in Moscow, explained to CriptoNoticias that "technically, payment in crypto currencies or tokens would not be allowed, that is, a transaction of said assets in exchange for goods or services, but nothing prevents it from being executed in practice through systems in which the asset digital immediately becomes rubles and the payment is made in legal tender ".

The draft law on Russian digital financial assets also regulates ICOs (Initial Currency Offer), differentiating between accredited and non-accredited investors. Thus, non-accredited investors will have limited investment in tokens for each project, up to a limit of 10,000 rubles, about 130 euros at the current exchange rate. In the words of Del Castillo, it supposes a limit of investment quite low. "By way of comparison, the Spanish legislation on participatory financing platforms (crowdfunding), Law 5/2015, of April 27, for the promotion of business financing, establishes in art. 82.1 a limit of 3,000 euros per project for non-accredited investors, "he argues.

Regarding the procedure, the text includes the need to publish an offer of issue on the Internet, through the project website and an investment memorandum (white paper). The bill also establishes the basic data on what the investment memorandum contains: information on the issuer and the shareholders, structure of the issuer's governing bodies, purpose of issuing the tokens, a business plan, etc. .

The bill also focuses on exchange houses, establishing that they can only be legal entities and that they must obtain licenses from brokers, dealers or securities management companies or, alternatively, comply with the requirements established by the federal law. organized markets.
 
Regarding this aspect, Rafael points out that "among the world's regulatory trends, attention is focused on both legislators, market supervisors and tax authorities of exchange houses. The regulatory trend will be based on the requirement of strict compliance with the rules on the prevention of money laundering and terrorism financing, identifying customers and the funds they bring to these platforms. It is also very likely that most exchange houses need to obtain some type of license, either redirecting them to the existing types in the corresponding regulations or creating a new specific license for this type of activity. "

The Russian bill also proposes legal definitions of cryptocurrency, mining, digital transaction, digital financial asset, digital asset exchange operator, token and smart contract. Thus, it defines digital financial asset as "well in electronic format created using cryptographic methods" and determines that "property rights over said assets are confirmed by inserting digital inscriptions in the digital transactions registry". It also expressly declares that cryptocurrency and tokens are considered digital financial assets.