The Deputy Prime Minister of Russia, Maxim Akimov believes the current downturn in the market justifies caution in enforcing cryptocurrency regulation, Russian Finmarket reports.

This statement comes after Mr. Akimov announced that the authors of Russia’s current daft cryptocurrency legislation to make amendments to the bill.

The bill “On Digital Financial Assets”- which was adopted by the State Duma, Russia’s parliament, back in May 2018, has been the subject of widespread discussions within the Russian legal landscape since it was first introduced. The bill went through a major edit as a draft bill, as all token-related terminologies were replaced with the term “digital rights,” and the bill also cut the definition of crypto mining, claiming the term was similar to cryptocurrency itself.

The State Duma’s draft was included in the National Program of Digital Economy, and it was designed to help bring stability to the circulation of tokens and cryptocurrencies. However, certain provisions of the bill didn’t seem to sit well with many parties, particularly the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs.

Chief among the bill’s opponents is Vladimir Potanin, President of Norlisk Nickel (a Nickel and Palladium mining company) and head of the Digitization Coordination Board of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. According to the news report, Potanin, who is preparing to issue digital assets backed by future metals, in the nearest future. Potanin believes the bills were wrong in its makeup, including separating the law that governs digital assets from other assets and not clarifying how it would regulate tokens.

Earlier this month, the head of the State Duma’s Committee on State Building, Pavel Krasheninnikov, said the bill had been pushed back to the first reading stage as certain aspects of it needed to be “significantly changed.” Akimov, while not in support, believes there won’t be any significant changes made, this time.

He stated:

“We are having a big conversation with any interested parties, we are in a dialogue and discuss it at various venues. We adhere to the position that has been worked out at the site of the two committees [the Finance Committee and the Civil Law Committee of the State Duma].”

Akimov also spoke about the possibility of drafting regulations for stablecoins in the future, which he sees as a form of duplication in the “standard fundraising mechanisms.”

Featured image from Government.ru.