The Central Bank of Russia was required to implement a similar Japanese model to legally license Bitcoin.
The Central Bank of Russia studies the Bitcoin model of Japan
Boris Titov, a Russian politician and also a member of the Presidential Committee on Entrepreneurship, sent a letter to the head of the Central Bank, according to a report by the Russian business daily. Russia, Elvira Nabiullina. In the letter he suggested that the bank should follow the Japanese model of adjusting digital money like Bitcoin and Ether.
Titov points out that Japan has recognized digital coins as a means of payment, not money. He then outlined three options that should apply to Russia.
Firstly, the cryptocurrency is currently managed by the Japanese government. Dealers must register with the government as well as implement strict anti-money laundering (AML) measures and know their customer information (KYC). For example, they must routinely monitor and report suspicious activity to the government.
Second, he noted that regulations should be applied to the management of assets and trading oors must be regularly audited by nancial institutions. This helps protect the user cryprocurrency.
Thirdly, Japan only abolished VAT on the purchase of cryptocurrency and not on VAT. However, he noted that the Japanese National Tax Agency has yet to explicitly regulate corporate income tax or corporate taxes on digital currency transactions.
Russia has not yet made a decision on cryptocurrency
Vedomosti said that the Russian Finance Ministry and the central bank are currently discussing whether the currency should be regulated. The Ministry of Finance has promised to submit the proposal to the government in the "near future".
Deputy Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova has proposed cryptocurrency to become digital goods for monitoring and tax reporting.
Meanwhile, Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said in early June that the regulation of cryptocurrency would be similar to that of derivatives.
His idea was echoed by the Chairman of the Duma Financial Market Committee, Anatoly Aksakov, who claimed that cryptocurrency should be treated as a nancial instrument comparable to securities and derivatives. "These transactions are not subject to VAT, so they are not taxable."
While Russia has not yet decided on cryptocurrency, Aksakov said that it was discussing terms and denitions of cryptocurrency.
Titov's proposal, Nikolai Legkodimov, a KPMG partner, "is condent that Russia will be able to successfully apply the Japanese model."