Russia’s Justice Minister Says Cryptocurrency Is Declared As Property In Russia
Russia’s lack of certainty on cryptocurrency regulations has become a cause of annoyance for many who invested in it and work on exchanges in the country.
At the center of the Russian Duma’s failure to pass a comprehensive law that regulates the cryptocurrency market, regulation is happening through the ministries and legal precedents in court cases. The most recent of these is the declaration of cryptocurrency as property by justice minister Alexander Konovalov.
The minister made the announcement in the presence of journalists in Moscow after a landmark bankruptcy trial declared that a man’s cryptocurrency holdings should be made available to pay off a debt.
His confirmation establishes doubtlessly that this trial established a legal criterion for future arbitration court proceedings in Russia.
“Cryptocurrency can be considered ‘other property.’ But the property must belong to one specific person. In this case, there is no established procedure for identifying whether the cryptocurrency belonged to that person. Therefore, you can claim that the cryptocurrency is property, but we do not yet know how it will be attached to this or that particular person. In other words, the property right is still not established,” said lawyer Kaloy Akhilgov during a radio show.
Despite the fact that there are still details to figure out, the Russian government is moving ahead to make regulations more transparent for individuals. About 3 days ago, the Duma started the process of discussing a law that requires cryptocurrency operators to register with authorities for permission, similar to how Japan sends out licenses to exchanges. This very law was brought forward by a movement inside the Duma whose focus is to make sure customers are protected from scams and pyramid schemes. Though the bill itself doesn’t establish how operators would be chosen, it defers to the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Economic Development to figure out the details.
