Russia has decided to halt its plans to create a national cryptocurrency exchange and instead formulate regulations that allow private companies to establish their own exchanges. The head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, Anatoly Aksakov, informed local media Izvestiya on May 29 of the change in strategy. He disclosed that the exchanges would be regulated by local regulations as they could be used to bypass sanctions. According to the report, the Russian Central Bank would introduce new regulations for the operations of these exchanges before the end of the year.
It was reported in November 2022 by CryptoSlate that Russian lawmakers were drafting an amendment bill to enable the launch of a national cryptocurrency exchange. However, the latest strategy of allowing private companies to establish exchanges has been welcomed by several crypto stakeholders in the country.
The Director for Government Relations at BitRiver, Oleg Ogienko, highlighted that having multiple players in the industry would limit risks of sanctions, cyber-attacks, and abuse by a dominant market player. Ogienko further added that access to these exchanges would be regulated to protect traders. New regulations would also be formed for foreign firms looking to operate within Russia, and these laws would protect the security of these platforms and their Russian users’ information.
Ivan Gostev, the commercial director at GIS Mining, also supported the idea of regulating private entities to enable competitive development and innovation within the industry. Gostev also agreed with Ogienko’s view on regulating these platforms to protect users. The founder of Anderida Financial Group, Alexei Tarapovsky, shared similar sentiments. Tarapovsky noted that the crypto exchanges could help Russian companies to complete international transactions using crypto following the sanctions from the U.S. and other Western countries.
The decision to launch a federal cryptocurrency exchange had met internal opposition from the Ministry of Finance, which preferred regulating businesses operating these exchanges and digital assets. The director of financial policy at the Ministry, Ivan Chebeskov, stated that the department had reached a compromise with the central bank to bring crypto mining activities under regulation and allow crypto use in international payments.
Russia has suspended its plans to launch a national cryptocurrency exchange, and instead, it will allow private companies to establish their own exchanges. The government will introduce new regulations to govern the operations of these exchanges. The move has been welcomed by various stakeholders in the country who believe that it will be beneficial for all parties. The regulation of private exchanges will encourage competition, innovation, and protect users’ interests.
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