The president of the Financial Markets Commission of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, Anatoly Aksakov, announced that the country's main stock exchanges are "ready" to work with bitcoin (quotation BTC) and other cryptocurrencies, once the use of these assets on Russian territory is finally legalized and regulated.
In an interview with the official newspaper of the Russian Federal Assembly, the official said that the Moscow Stock Exchange, the St. Petersburg Stock Exchange and the St. Petersburg International Commodity Exchange are the entities that appear to have everything ready to develop with the emerging market.
In Russia, due to the war with Ukraine and the economic sanctions imposed by the West for the military invasion of the neighboring country, Vladimir Putin's government authorities have rethought their position towards BTC and other cryptoassets.
Although President Vladimir Putin recently signed a law ratifying the ban on using cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, the Russian government has been discussing the possibility of regulating and using them for international payments for weeks. This is in contrast to the central bank, which has clearly expressed its aversion to BTC, although it later softened its position and opted for regulated use.
A government regulation proposal for Bitcoin
Demonstrating the Kremlin's intention, this month Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin asked the country's Ministry of Finance and Central Bank to come up with a regulatory proposal, with the development of the Bitcoin ecosystem in general in Russia in mind.
This includes, in addition to cross-border payments, the issuance, circulation and exchange of these assets in Russia. The draft of this bill is expected to be delivered by December of this year at the latest.
In this regard, according to Anatoly Aksakov, the aforementioned brokerage firms, which are the most important in Russia, are ready to become part of the cryptocurrency market when the legislation comes into effect. This, taking into account that they already have the necessary structure to operate with these assets, according to the parliamentarian. This was reported by Bitcoin.com.
The deputy also noted that the Russian Duma is pursuing the discussion of a draft law to regulate the market and that the respective amendments could be introduced in November.
Aksakov's statement further illustrates the uneven change that has occurred in the Russian government, where the need for a crisis-prone economy takes precedence over the financial arrangements or policies of the traditional fiat system.
