Russia’s Ministry of Justice has stood against a new draft proposal that seeks to ban crypto operations in the country. The move by the ministry came barely a week before the ministry of Economic Development distanced itself from the new proposals. Though the bill was introduced by some legislators back in March, it is widely believed to be the handy work of the country’s Central Bank which has never been a fan of crypto.
New Anti-crypto Proposals
News of the new proposed restrictions were met by harsh reviews from crypto enthusiasts in the country. According to Russia’s newspaper Izvestia, justice deputy minister Denis Novak prepared the ministry’s response to the draft regulations which criticized the inconsistency in the new proposed rules. The widely rejected proposals had it that Russians should not be able to conduct any business within the country using cryptocurrency. It also had it that the government had the right to seize crypto from people without any warrants. The only ‘positive’ was that Russians would be able to inherit or accept digital coins courtesy of a counterpart’s bankruptcy process.
Ministry of Justice Pushback
The ministry of justice exposed the inconsistency with the new regulations criticizing the demonization of crypto and the proposed crypto seizure procedures. The ministry pointed out that though it would be unclear what courts would be able to do with confiscated crypto; marshals would normally sell seized property at auctions. The big question was how this would happen in the case of crypto if all crypto transactions were made illegal. The ministry proposed changes instead, that would see the government help Russians sell their crypto abroad.
The sponsor of the proposed new regulations, Anatoly Aksakov, told the news agency TASS that digital securities part of the bill was ready to be passed and would go through a final hearing soon. He added that the punitive parts of the bill were in for more deliberations though. The proposed anti-crypto laws come at a time when Russia is gearing up for an election that will use a Blockchain based voting system to decide President Vladimir Plutin’s fate.
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