The Russian Ministry of the Interior is considering criminal liability for unregistered cryptographic operations. According to the documents acquired by Izvestia, the Ministry of Interior of Russia is working on the amendment of the law to legalize only registered operations of open source cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and others. The Ministry suggests that in order to conduct legal transactions involving a crypto, persons or entities should acquire compulsory registration in state authorities that conduct financial and tax regulations.
The initiative apparently comes from the main directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for Drug Control (GUKON). On July 13, the head of GUKON, Andrei Chrapov, asked the Russian Ministry of Finance to comment on the potential implementation and feasibility of the proposed legislative measures.
The Russian Ministry of Economic Development reportedly expressed a skeptical attitude towards the initiative of the Ministry of the Interior, claiming that it is still too early to consider the criminalization of cryptocurrency operations. Deputy Head of the Ministry of Economic Development, Savva Shipov, pointed out that so far there are no provisions specifically related to regulating cryptographic transactions. However, Shipov noted that individuals or entities could be prosecuted in cases where the cryptocurrency was used as a means of payment for already established illegal activities, such as trafficking in weapons or drugs.
Artem Tolkachev, a legal expert and CEO of Sputnik DLT, confirmed the position of the Ministry of Economic Development:"It is too early to talk about the criminalization of illegal [unregistered] cryptocurrency operations, as no necessary regulations have been established for this industry" - he writes.
Tolkachev also noted that while crypto trade takes place in the so-called the gray zone in Russia, and that many Russian authorities have been bringing similar initiatives since 2015, the idea of criminalizing cryptographic trade has not yet had any direct legal basis. In terms of the impact of such initiatives, the legal expert has suggested that Russian cryptographic projects will ultimately seek a different jurisdiction: "If such initiatives as the criminalization of cryptocurrencies gain in the future, it will have a negative impact on real projects, which, as a result, will look for another jurisdiction. In fact, large cryptographic operators no longer work in Russian structures, instead, they operate through foreign programs "- says Tolkachev.
The Ministry of Finance for the first time introduced the full legal framework for crypto and Blockchain in January 2018. The bill, entitled "On digital financial assets", was to be finalized by 1 July. So far, the draft law has been approved only in the first of three readings of the Russian parliament of the State Duma. Although the recently approved version of the law legalizes activities related to cryptography and initial monetary offers, it still directly states that digital financial assets are not a legal payment method in the territory of the Russian Federation.
Let's now take a look at the Bitcoin technical picture at the H4 time frame. The market has broken above the local high at the level of $6,873 and made a new local high at the level of $6,909. The next target for bulls is located at the level of $6,989 and the nearest techcnial support is seen at the level of $6,782. The corrective advance continues.
