Russia Unveils Proposed Regulation Putting Limits on ICOs and Investors

The Russian finance ministry has unveiled its proposals for the regulation of initial coin offerings (ICOs) in the upcoming bill to be submitted this week. They include the maximum amount an ICO can raise as well as an investment limit for unqualified investors.

Also read: Russian Regulators Draft Law to Restrict Crypto Mining, Payments, and Token Sales

Proposed Limits on ICOs

The Russian Ministry of Finance has prepared a bill to be submitted on December 28. Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev described the bill, as reported by Tass on Wednesday:

A maximum of 1 billion rubles [~ USD$17.3 million] can be raised through an ICO, and each unqualified investor will be able to invest a maximum of 50,000 rubles [~$864].

He clarified that a qualified investor can invest any amount. “We want to make the bill as direct as possible and minimize the reference to the norms of the Bank of Russia so that the regulation of ICOs does not become another currency control,” Moiseev emphasized.

Currently, ICOs and cryptocurrencies are not regulated in Russia. However, President Vladimir Putin has mandated the government to create a regulatory framework for them by July 1 of next year.

Market Participants’ Comments

Following Moiseev’s announcement, market participants reportedly welcomed the proposals, according to Ria Novosti.

“I think this is an excellent starting position for the market, that there are some restrictions on the amount of general investment and qualification of investors,” said Eugene Gordeev, the founder of Decenter portal. For “an ordinary user,” he was quoted by the publication, “50 thousand rubles is more than enough” to start investing in an ICO. Based on his experience with token sales, he noted that retail investors usually invest one thousand dollars.

Mansour Hüseynov, director of the Cryptolife Investment Fund, commented:

The proposals for regulating ICOs look logical, [however] the threshold of 50 thousand rubles seems to be understated, I would propose 500-600 thousand rubles [~$8,635-104,400].

Earlier this week, the country’s finance minister Anton Siluanov told Russia 24 TV channel in an interview that only “professional traders should work with cryptocurrencies,” not ordinary citizens who may see bitcoin as a way to get rich quick.

According to the chairman of the State Duma Financial Markets Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, the bill for the regulation of both cryptocurrencies and ICOs is expected to be adopted by the end of March.

What do you think of Russia’s proposed ICO regulation? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and Euronext.

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