The draft law prohibiting the circulation of cryptocurrencies in Russia will enter the State Duma later than expected. The Ministry of Finance explains the delay saying the document still needs a lot of corrections.

Various additions and corrections to what was regarded as the final version of the draft are being made following multiple comments and suggestions from reviewers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev told Banki.ru. According to the official, the basic guideline of the document remains the same: it suggests up to 7 years in prison for issuance and exchange operations with cryptocurrency, bitcoin included.

“We carry on working on the draft law, however, it is taking its time. Every person who starts reading it again and again says we need to clarify the wording. So we are clarifying it,” said Moiseev.

Yet, the ministry is still planning to introduce the bill to the parliament before the closing of the spring session early in July.

As CoinFox reported earlier, the amendments to the law “On the Central Bank” suggest for private individuals found guilty of cryptocurrency mining the draft prescribes up to 4 years of imprisonment or 500 thousand rubles in fines. For organised groups, the punishment would be up to 6 years in prison or fines of 500,000 to 1 million rubles. For senior managers of banks and other financial institutions involved in issuing of cryptocurrency, or “surrogate money”, the punishment is the most severe – up to 7 years in jail with deprivation of the right to hold specific posts or fines of up to 2.5 million rubles.

Apart from the Ministry of Finance, total prohibition of bitcoin in Russia is supported by the Investigative Committee and Central Bank. The head of the former Alexander Bastrykin recently declared that cryptocurrency is used to finance extremism and information war against Russia.

Elena Platonova