Bill Submitted to Make Cryptoruble Legal Tender in Russia

A bill has been submitted to the Russian parliament to make the country’s national “cryptocurrency,” the cryptoruble, legal tender in Russia. This bill was introduced as the finance ministry published a different bill for the regulation of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings in Russia.

Also read: Russia Finalizes Federal Law on Cryptocurrency Regulation

Cryptoruble as Legal Tender

A draft law has been submitted to the State Duma by Parliament member Rizvan Kurbanov to introduce “the national cryptocurrency, cryptoruble, as an official means of payment in Russia,” RT reported. The publication elaborated:

The document proposes several amendments to the Russian Civil Code, which would make the cryptoruble a legal means of payment circulated nationwide.

The bill was posted in the electronic database of the lower house of parliament on January 25. It proposes amending Article 140 of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation to include the cryptoruble on the list of legal means of payment in Russia.

“The cryptoruble is a digital financial asset (cryptocurrency) – an analog of the ruble, which has circulation in the territory of the Russian Federation,” the document describes, adding that it “is protected by cryptographic methods and used by participants in the distributed registry of digital transactions.”

Kurbanov also wrote that “Adoption of the submitted draft federal law will not entail additional costs from the federal budget and does not require changes in other financial obligations of the state.”

Will Cryptoruble be Launched Soon?

In October 2017, Russia’s president Vladimir Putin ordered the issue of the country’s national cryptocurrency, as news.Bitcoin.com previously reported.

Following his order, the Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Nikolay Nikiforov, quickly proposed the basics for the new currency. Meanwhile, the Bank of Russia, the finance ministry, and the State Duma have been discussing the framework for the cryptoruble.

Both the central bank and the finance ministry indicated that they are in no hurry to create the national cryptocurrency. While deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev said “I do not even understand what a cryptoruble is,” the central bank’s first deputy governor Olga Skorobogatova said the idea of the cryptoruble is not advisable from the macroeconomic point of view. However, she revealed that the bank is working on a “supranational digital currency within the BRICS or the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEC).”

Last week, The first deputy governor of the Bank of Russia, Sergey Shvetsov, emphasized that “The appearance of a cryptoruble in the foreseeable future is unlikely.” However, early this month, Putin reiterated the need to create the cryptocurrency and reportedly commissioned work to create it in order to circumvent Western sanctions.

Meanwhile, the finance ministry has published the draft law for the regulation of cryptocurrencies and initial coin offerings (ICOs) in Russia.

Do you think the cryptoruble will be issued and made a legal means of payment in Russia? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and the Russian government.

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