Russia Now Has a Registry of Whitelisted Crypto Companies

The Russian Association of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain has created a registry of whitelisted companies that offer crypto-related products or services. Meanwhile, the bill to regulate cryptocurrencies in Russia has been delayed.

Also read: Yahoo! Japan Confirms Entrance Into the Crypto Space

Whitelist of Crypto Firms

The Russian Association of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain (RACIB) has created a whitelist of crypto companies. The list includes firms in the field of crypto mining, investment, marketing, legal, training, and initial coin offerings (ICOs).

From early this year, legal entities and individuals in Russia have lost more than 270 million rubles [~US$4.3 million] from crypto-related investments organized by scammers and incompetent companies, RACIB detailed. The association has already started tracking unfair ICO projects and it hopes the registry will allow industry participants to find trustworthy partners in the space. RACIB elaborated:

The list of trusted companies will allow Russian and foreign market participants to base their work on trusted organizations and minimize the risk of fraud in the creation and development of Russian or foreign business in the field of mining, trading with cryptocurrency, blockchain technology and ICO.

Launched with 50 Companies

The association explained that the registry “consists exclusively of organizations that have undergone voluntary verification of reliability.” The criteria include “financial sustainability, experience and business reputation, lack of judicial judgments, availability of licenses and certificates (if necessary), [and] no arrears of taxes and fees.”

Citing that about 30 applicants are being verified, the association revealed:

At the moment, the registry includes more than 50 companies.

These companies are “trusted organizations which have already passed the verification procedure,” RACIB emphasized. Any legal entity in Russia wanting to be included can apply online. “The average period for document review is 10 days. At this time, third-party verification is not performed,” RABIC’s website states.

Additional testing and certification in three areas are already in the works, the association revealed. The first is a “certification for traders of crypto assets.” The second is a “certification for mining equipment suppliers” and the third is a “certification for mining farms.”

Russian Crypto Bill Delayed

The legal framework for the regulation of cryptocurrencies and ICOs in Russia is still in the preparation stage. The bill “On Digital Financial Assets” passed the first reading in the State Duma in May.

Last year, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered the regulation of cryptocurrencies and ICOs be finalized in July. However, Bankir wrote last week that the “consideration of draft laws on cryptocurrency was postponed to September.”

Elina Sidorenko, head of the State Duma’s interdepartmental working group responsible for a risk assessment on the turnover of cryptocurrencies, explained the delay in an interview with Hash Telegraph.

According to her, the Russian laws will be adopted after the “FATF [Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering] standards are developed with respect to the risks of using cryptocurrency.” Without the FATF policies, it is difficult to adopt national legislation, she conveyed. The FATF draft document was expected to be considered at the session on June 27-29, “but in the end it was postponed to September,” Sidorenko detailed, elaborating:

Now in the State Duma there are several bills at once. And they are very different approaches to the definition of cryptocurrencies and tokens…The Central Bank believes that cryptocurrencies and tokens now do not have sufficient economic resources to function fully in free economic circulation.

What do you think of the Russian Association’s registry of whitelisted crypto companies? Let us know in the comments section below.

Images courtesy of Shutterstock and RACIB.

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