Cryptocurrencies go to the underground. The bill from the Ministry of Finance

It so happened that in the late 2000s, Bitcoin began to become the most popular type of crypto money, which was once invented and described by encryption. Undoubtedly, BitCoin e-currency turned the traditional world order of issue and circulation of money, becoming the most reliable and convenient monetary tool for making payments online and offline.

It should be noted several properties of crypto money, which cause the greatest vigilance in the circles of state power, guarding the monopoly of the issuance of traditional money and control over the circulation of this money:
- decentralized emissions;
- cryptographic methods of protection and operation;
- anonymity;
- lack of real value
- not regulated by banking supervisors

That is why BitCoin payments cannot be blocked, the payee and payer can be calculated, the order and time of issue of new BitCoin coins is controlled. Despite the fact that disputes connected with payment in BitCoin cannot be legally confirmed and refer to payment in the event of a conflict in court, it has established itself as a reliable open source code that has now proven its stability and viability throughout the world.
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It is obvious that a free cryptocurrency can exist only in a free information society with an open economy, to which it is extremely difficult to call Russia against the background of the legislative hell of recent years in the field of network regulation.


In January 2014, the Central Bank of Russia for the first time voiced the position in which he called crypto money — a money surrogate and explained that the use of cryptocurrency by business will automatically be considered as a potential involvement in suspicious operations related to the legalization (laundering) of proceeds from crime and financing of terrorism After this official statement of the banking regulator, it became obvious that BitCoin will not live long in Russia.

At the beginning of February 2014, the working group at the General Prosecutor's Office, together with the Central Bank, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, considered the issue of the existence and circulation of cryptocurrencies, summarizing specific decisions “aimed at preventing violations of the property rights of citizens and organizations related to the use of cryptocurrencies and determine further directions work on the legal regulation of this area.

In July 2014, for a moment, it seemed that BitCoin and other currencies could be recognized at the highest level of the country.
Georgy Luntovsky, the first deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia, speaking at the International Banking Congress 2, announced the possibility of settling cryptocurrency sales at the national level. He stated the following: “We are supporters of a careful approach to BitCoin. Together with the Bank for International Settlements, we monitor this situation. You can not reject this tool, perhaps for him the future. As information is accumulated, we will decide on BitCoin. We are currently working with the government to study this issue. Perhaps, after some time, we will take a decision legislative regulation of this issue. "


One of the most influential bankers, German Gref , head of Sberbank of Russia, the largest bank in Eastern Europe, stated at the World Economic Forum in Davos that “virtual currencies are a very interesting international experiment that breaks the currency issue paradigm. They definitely do not need to be banned, they should be recognized, and maybe regulated correctly. ”

Back in August, we wondered if cryptocurrency would be banned in Russia? It took a little time, during which, apparently, the question at the top was studied, conferred and decided to ban crypto-money just in case.

On October 3, 2014, a bill developed by the Ministry of Finance on the instructions of Shuvalov, providing for strict administrative measures of responsibility in the form of fines for the extraction of cash surrogates, download programs allowing to do this, appeared on the Single portal for posting information on the development of federal executive authorities of NLA and the results of their public discussion. , as well as for the dissemination of information on how to buy and sell crypto money.

The draft law proposes to add art. 27 No. 86- “About the Central Bank of the Russian Federation” legal definition, which states that “money surrogate” is other (besides the ruble) monetary units and objects of property rights, issued, including in electronic form, used as a means of payment and (or) exchange, not provided for by the legislation, the issue (issue) and the implementation of which is prohibited.

Directly, neither BitCoin itself nor other cryptocurrencies are considered to be “surrogates” by the draft law, but in the absence of any clarifying wording, it can be assumed that the proposed rules of the Administrative Code will apply to existing cryptocurrencies.
According to the draft, it is proposed to introduce a number of changes to the Code on Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation, supplementing it with new prohibitive articles related to the turnover of money substitutes.

For example, mining (the process of developing cryptocurrency by performing a certain algorithm using a computer program) is punished with a fine of up to 50 thousand for individuals and up to one million rubles for officials and legal entities.

Similar amounts of fines are provided for the creation and distribution of special software for mining and "deliberate dissemination of information that allows for the production of Bitcoins or operations with them." At the same time, the developers of the draft law do not explain what is intentional dissemination of information, for which it is proposed to impute an administrative offense, and how to distinguish intentional dissemination of information from random?


Of course, the authors of the law could not get past the topic of termination of access to sites that violate the requirements of the law, which is popular today. Thus, Article 15.1. The Federal Law “On Information” is complemented by another reason for which the site can be included in the federal “black list” with further blocking of the resource by all providers in the country - this is the dissemination of information that allows for the issuance (emission) of money surrogates and (or) operations from their using. Thus, another censoring body appears in Russia - the Central Bank, which will determine all decisions regarding BitCoin and other cryptocurrencies. There is reason to believe that the law will be interpreted extremely widely and not only resources describing mining and sites of BitCoin exchanges and exchangers will be subject to blockages, but also any information that “promotes circulation of cryptocurrencies, the use of which is prohibited in Russia”.

In terms of cryptocurrency regulation, the proposal of the Ministry of Finance will put Russia ahead of the rest, surpassing even countries with traditionally tough domestic information policies like China, Vietnam or Jordan. For example, even in China, the ban on BitCoin applies only to conducting operations with Chinese financial companies using cryptocurrency, as well as publishing quotes or insuring financial products using BitCoin. At the same time, individuals are free to participate in online transactions at their own risk and peril.
According to official information, the proposal was submitted by the following persons (the country must know its heroes):

Dmitry Yermolaev, Igor L. Ovchinnikov, Alexey Shteinberg, Pavel Anatolyevich Chalov, Alexander Mikhayev Petrov, Edward S. Kevbrin, Edward S. Grishchuk, Alexey Yuryevich Sizov, Andrei Borisovich Belentsov, Alexander Valeryevich Kirsanov, Andrei Dorfman, and the Institute, he worked as a graph, and he was the first team, and he was the first team, and he was the first group, and he was the first team, and he was the first team, Andrey Borisovich, Alexander Ivanovich Belentsov, Alexander Valeryevich Kirsanov, Andrei Dorfman, and the institutes, he worked as a team, and he worked as a graph, and he was the first team, and he was the first team, and he was the first group, and he was an artist, Andrey Borisovich, Alexey B. Kirsanov, Andrei Dorfman, and the institute, Andrey, Dmitry, Dmitry, Dmitry Szykov, Vladimirovna V., Ivan Ivanovich Vodoleev, Renat Bysyrovich Lotfullin, Sergey V. Khrulev, Maxim Eduardovich Uperyaka, Evgeny Shatunov, Ilya Valeryevich Oleinik, Sergey Niko Sidelev Layevich, Volodichev Aleksey Alekseevich, Tikhomirov Sergey Sergeevich, Kerentsev Andrei Aleksandrovich, Brodsky Ilya Borisovich, Meshcheryakov Anton Sergeevich, Bozhko Maxim Aleksandrovich, Bolshakov Dmitriy Igorevich, Borisov Konstantin Sergeevich

The project was developed by the head of the developer’s structural unit responsible for drafting the draft law S.R. Platonov. Discussion of the bill will last until November 1, after which it will be sent to the State Duma for its further adoption.

Observing that the recent prohibitive laws have recently whistled through the lower chamber and are signed by the President after a couple of weeks, for some reason there is no doubt that it will be adopted either in this wording or in even tougher formulations (up to introduction of criminal liability). I can argue at 0.38765 BTC that this will happen before the end of this year. Who is willing to bet, yet it is legal?

UPD: I apologize to all persons and habrovchanami indicated in the post for inaccuracies in writing the post about the persons who submitted proposals for the draft law.

Dmitry Yermolaev, Igor L. Ovchinnikov, Alexey Shteinberg, Pavel Anatolyevich Chalov, Alexander Mikhayev Petrov, Edward S. Kevbrin, Edward S. Grishchuk, Alexey Yuryevich Sizov, Andrei Borisovich Belentsov, Alexander Valeryevich Kirsanov, Andrei Dorfman, and the Institute, he worked as a graph, and he was the first team, and he was the first team, and he was the first group, and he was the first team, and he was the first team, Andrey Borisovich, Alexander Ivanovich Belentsov, Alexander Valeryevich Kirsanov, Andrei Dorfman, and the institutes, he worked as a team, and he worked as a graph, and he was the first team, and he was the first team, and he was the first group, and he was an artist, Andrey Borisovich, Alexey B. Kirsanov, Andrei Dorfman, and the institute, Andrey, Dmitry, Dmitry, Dmitry Szykov, Vladimirovna V., Ivan Ivanovich Vodoleev, Renat Bysyrovich Lotfullin, Sergey V. Khrulev, Maxim Eduardovich Uperyaka, Evgeny Shatunov, Ilya Valeryevich Oleinik, Sergey Niko Sidelev Layevich, Volodichev Aleksey Alekseevich, Tikhomirov Sergey Sergeevich, Kerentsev Andrei Aleksandrovich, Brodsky Ilya Borisovich, Meshcheryakov Anton Sergeevich, Bozhko Maxim Aleksandrovich, Bolshakov Dmitriy Igorevich, Borisov Konstantin Sergeevich

As it was found out, these persons participated as experts in the discussion of a similar legislative initiative of August 01, 2014 . At the same time, none of the comments of other experts containing the draft law’s bill was taken into account. At the same time, in the consolidated report on which in clause 16.3 in the column “Information about the persons who submitted proposals” the names of the experts appear, whose opinion was not taken into account. Thus, the Ministry of Economic Development, which is the operator of the Single Portal for posting information on the development of draft regulations by the federal executive bodies and the results of their public discussion, indicated information about the people who made proposals, thereby allowing the dissemination of unreliable information.