The Russian Finance Minister has reportedly proposed to allow banks to sell cryptoassets.
According to the Russian newspaper Kommersant, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov proposed legalizing the trading of crypto assets through banks. The minister’s proposal represents the latest in approaches to regulate crypto assets rather than ban them.
Minister Siluanov says banks could be empowered to trade cryptoassets, and licensing rules could be introduced for other types of businesses as well. On the other hand, both the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of Russia agree that crypto assets cannot be a legal means of payment in Russia.
Siluanov also said that the Central Bank of Russia and Russia’s Anti-Money Laundering (AML) agency Rosfinmonitoring should access information about transactions related to cryptoassets and use the Transparent Blockchain system. Stating that the population has 2 trillion Rubles worth of crypto assets, which corresponds to approximately 26 billion dollars, the minister also stated that these funds should be legalized with the new regulations.