As per emerging reports, Russia is set to initiate rules that will guide its usage of cryptocurrency for cross-border payments. According to its Prime minister, Mikhail Mishustin, the government intends to devise those rules by December 19. Mikhail urged relevant authorities to come up with necessary regulations capable of overseeing crypto activities within the country. This, according to him, must be done before or on the specified date.
Mikhail maintained that the forthcoming legislation should align with the Russian Finance Ministry, the Central bank, Anti-Money Laundering authority Rosfinmonitoring, the Federal Tax Service, and the Federal Security Service.
As revealed, this development is a proof that Russia is serious about enabling cross-border transactions. With this development, Russia might become the first country in the world to promote cross-border crypto payment.
According to Russia’s Deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev, the bank of Russia plans to support the finance ministry on the use of cryptocurrency for cross-border payments. However, despite the Central bank’s willingness to authorize cross-border payment, it is yet to validate local crypto exchanges and crypto means of payment.
Bank of Russia consulting over adoption of crypto for cross-border payments
This development comes a few weeks after the bank of Russia began consultation with appropriate stakeholders on the adoption of crypto for cross-border payment. The bank finds cryptocurrency as a trend capable of helping the country evade sanctions.
In addition, Moiseev outlined the importance of domestic cryptocurrency payment in Russia. According to him, the Central Bank plans to monitor the usage of cryptocurrency in cross-border transactions. He further that such processes must align with the prevailing anti-money laundering(AML) and know-your-customer (KYC) regulations. He believes the country posseses what it takes to fully explore cryptocurrencies without hitches.
Notably, the Prime minister also disclosed plans to adopt crypto as the official payment method for imports and exports. He sees the adoption of crypto as an instrument to effectively secure sustainable global trade. More so, The Prime minister maintained that the country must adopt the trend to fully address illegal activities.
Notably, the realities in Russia further illustrates the growing importance of cryptocurrency. Aside from employing it to evade the sanctions, crypto has contributed massively to the war. Russia and Ukraine, in recent times used crypto to raise funds to support their troops in the fight. The European Union and the United States appears worried over Russia’s usage of crypto to avert sanctions.
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