Welcome to your regulation minute of the week. We leave today for an overview of attempts to regulate cryptocurrencies. Today, Russia is in the spotlight.
Russia: Digital Currency Bill
The Russian government is finalizing the federal law on the regulation of cryptocurrencies and ICOs. The bill regulates the creation, issuance, storage and circulation of digital currencies. This bill was introduced by the Ministry of Finance at the end of December. Article 5 of the document states that "This Federal Law comes into force 90 days after the date of its official publication."
Official legal definitions
The Russian government has officially released the federal bill entitled " On Digital Financial Assets" .
According to the document :
"This federal law governs relationships arising from the creation, issuance, storage and circulation of digital financial assets, as well as the exercise of rights and the fulfillment of obligations arising from smart contracts."
The bill provides the official definitions of the Russian government. In particular, the definition of cryptocurrency, tokens, smart contracts and exchanges . The cryptocurrency is defined as:
"A type of digital financial asset created and accounted for in the Distributed Register of Digital Transactions by participants in that register in accordance with the rules of the Digital Transaction Registry" .
In addition, a token is defined as:
"A type of digital financial asset that is issued by a legal entity or an individual entrepreneur in order to attract funding and is recorded in the digital documents register".
As for the mining, it is considered as: "an entrepreneurial activity aimed at creating a cryptocurrency and / or a validation in order to receive compensation in the form of cryptocurrency" . Mining activities are subsequently described as "legally valid" actions .
Trading rights against other assets
The document specifies that Russians have the right to exchange their cryptographic currencies for other digital assets and for national currency, indicating:
"Holders of digital financial assets have the right to make transactions for the exchange of digital financial assets of one type for digital financial assets of another type and / or the exchange of digital financial assets for rubles , foreign currency and / or other goods only through the digital financial asset exchange operator. "
The document also imposes restrictions on the portfolios. The bill states that a portfolio must be "opened by the exchange operator only after having passed the identification procedures of its owner in accordance with the federal law of 7 August 2001".
Much of the document is about ICOs. It specifies the rules applicable to sales of tokens, such as the issuing procedures, as well as the documents and information that must be disclosed before the sale. For each ICO, the issuer must also provide an investment disclosure note containing all information relating to the issuer and the tokens.
South Korea: No ban on cryptocurrencies
South Korea's Finance Minister Kim Dong Yeon has reaffirmed that the government will not ban cryptocurrency in the country. In response to a question from a legislator about the government's plans to regulate the industry , Kim Dong Yeon said:
"There is no intention to ban or suppress cryptocurrency." Kim Dong Yeon
The country's customs announced on Wednesday that it had uncovered the illegal trade in cryptocurrency foreign currency worth nearly $ 600 million .
Customs services did not provide information on companies guilty of digital currency fraud. Nothing has been said about stabilization measures, but it is clear that the attitude of the South Korean government towards cryptocurrencies has changed dramatically. What matters for the legislator is regulation and no longer repression.
Philippines: regulation in progress
The Securities and Exchange Commission of the Philippines (SEC) is working on a regulation of ICOs and cryptocurrencies.
Emilio Aquino , SEC commissioner for the Philippines, said the SEC will finalize the regulations this year . The regulation is currently in the "drafting phase" .
The SEC official added:
"We must act because ICOs sprout everywhere. We want to develop our own rules. You have to be very careful about protecting investors in this new space. Unfortunately, there have been many cases where ICO promoters have vanished. " Emilio Aquino