Russia bans cryptocurrency payments. A law that will come into force in 10 days.
People residing in Russia will soon no longer be able to use their digital assets to make any payments. Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a law banning the use of digital assets, like cryptocurrencies and other NFTs, to pay for goods or services.
Russia bans cryptocurrency payments
In addition, as Protocol clarifies, this new law also requires exchanges and other crypto providers to refuse any transactions in which digital transfers could be interpreted as a form of payment.
Specifically, in the text, we can read the following: “It is prohibited to transfer or accept financial digital assets as remuneration for goods transferred, work performed, services rendered or in any other way that allows someone to assume payment for goods (works, services) by a digital financial asset, except as otherwise permitted by federal law.”
As the New York Times reported a few months ago, US authorities are convinced that some Russian companies impacted by the sanctions imposed on the country following its invasion of Ukraine could use cryptocurrencies to circumvent these restrictions. The value of Bitcoin had even jumped for a few days just after the invasion began last February.
A law that will come into force in 10 days
That being said, the Russian authorities are not really fans of digital assets: the Central Bank of Russia had called for an outright ban on cryptocurrencies. This one did not take place, in particular because the Russian Minister of Finance is opposed to this idea and remains convinced that it is necessary to authorize crypto technologies to develop the country.
In 10 days, this new law will come into force and will therefore make cryptocurrency payments illegal in the country. According to Decrypt, however, Russians can still invest in cryptos like Bitcoin and continue mining them if they wish. Only payments are currently prohibited.