After several delays, the adoption of Russia’s major crypto law known as “On Digital Financial Assets” has now been finalized. However, according to a report, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on financial markets, Anatoly Aksakov says the bill won’t be adopted before the end of the spring 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to the local news report, Aksakov claimed the previous delays in the bill’s adoption were due to the disagreement on the new asset type between local authorities. Aksakov reportedly highlighted that the central bank opposed legalization of crypto while the State Duma was also advocating some crypto initiatives.

However, Aksakov noted that the adoption has been postponed again this time round due to another reason different from the aforementioned. He said the country has now shifted its attention to priority actions against the COVID-19 pandemic, and as a result all legislative processes have slowed down. The law has witnessed several delays after first being introduced in January, 2018.

According to the report, Aksakov stated that the upcoming crypto law is going to provide a definition of cryptocurrencies and ban the use of crypto as a mode of payment. He further stated that the law will include the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies.

However, this is contrary to what was reported about the law in mid-March concerning this matter. It was reported that a legal executive at Russia central bank has stated that the law would prohibit the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies.

Aksakov also highlighted that the upcoming law wont hinder operation of crypto exchanges in Russia so long as they don’t violate it. He added that the bill won’t include regulations regarding crypto mining. He however expressed confidence that profits made from crypto mining should be taxed, since according to him, crypto mining is also a type of business that produces value.

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