Liquidation of the Association of users of cryptocurrency in the Russian Federation
At the end of 2013, a group of cryptocurrency enthusiasts decided to organize themselves for more constructive interaction and dialogue with regulatory authorities of the Russian Federation. In December 2013, the first meeting of the founders was held, at which it was decided to create a non-profit organization - the Association of users of cryptocurrencies.
As goals, we set ourselves the unification of cryptocurrency operators and the consolidation of opinions for interaction with regulators of the Russian Federation, as well as assistance in organizing legal regulation in the field of cryptocurrencies. It was also planned to interact with similar foreign associations to study best practices and exchange experiences.
Originally planned to name the association “Association of Cryptocurrency Operators of Russia (AKOR)”.
Next was the work on the draft Charter. There were questions on the goals of the organization, on interaction with government bodies. There was also a question about the word “operators”, which appeared in the name of the association relative to FZ-161, since this term is uniquely defined by the Bank of Russia, and its use is still a big question regarding cryptocurrency. The same was the reasoning of the "currencies", as there could be obvious misunderstandings and questions. In the world and Russian law there are no legal interpretations and notions of “currency without an issuer”, but it was decided to leave it, as there is still no equal sign between the terms “cryptovallate” and “currency”. A similar situation with the word "crypto", since cryptography immediately falls under the appropriate license.
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As a result, we settled on the abbreviated name “Association of Cryptocurrency Users”, the full name “ASSOCIATION OF USERS OF A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER NETWORK BASED ON THE ORIGINAL OPEN CODE OF THE BITCOIN SYSTEM AND ITS ANALOGUES”.
The Charter and the Memorandum of Association were signed, after which the documents were submitted to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for official registration of the Association.
In March, the Ministry of Justice passed a positive decision on registration, in April all documents were received.
It was planned that any citizens and legal entities recognizing its Charter and Memorandum of Association who can contribute to the realization of the goals and objectives of the Association can be members of the Association.
And we set quite serious goals:
- Research activities in the field of Cryptocurrency;
- Consolidation of the opinions of the members of the Association and bringing opinions to interested citizens, legal entities and state bodies, as well as protecting the legitimate interests of its members and providing members of the Association with legal and advisory assistance;
- Promoting the creation of effective legal regulation and control in the field of Cryptocurrencies;
- Participation in the manner prescribed by law in the preparation of regulatory decisions on issues affecting the cryptocurrency system;
And many others.
In January 2014, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued its information letter “On the use of“ virtual currencies ”, in particular, Bitcoin, when making transactions.” In which, although it did not contain a direct ban on the use of cryptocurrencies, the meaning of the message was quite understandable. After him, open conversations about the work on the implementation of cryptocurrencies with credit organizations was practically useless. Many private companies that were loyal to cryptocurrency before have either stopped accepting it or frozen their plans for accepting if they were still implemented. Even some private companies responded to this statement, working with cryptocurrencies for which was the main business. For example, the popular exchange MetaBank has completely curtailed the exchange of cryptocurrencies.
On February 6, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation published the results of a meeting on the issue of the legality of using anonymous payment systems and cryptocurrencies. The main conclusion reached by the expert group under the Interdepartmental Working Group on Counteraction to Economic Crimes proved to be disappointing:
“The anonymous payment systems and cryptocurrencies that have received a certain distribution, including the most well-known of them, Bitcoin, are money substitutes and cannot be used by citizens and legal entities.”
Despite the fact that the General Prosecutor’s Office, like the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, are not legislative bodies and cannot give such definitions, their mood and message were quite understandable. Moreover, this meeting adopted “a number of specific decisions aimed at preventing violations of the property rights of citizens and organizations related to the use of cryptocurrencies”, which in practice resulted in prosecutor’s checks of organizations that publicly announced acceptance of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation.
The lack of legality of the definitions was decided to be corrected by the Ministry of Finance, which in August 2014 prepared a draft law, in which it is proposed to equate virtual currencies to money surrogates. This project is available for review on the Unified State Portal . Cryptocurrencies are a subset of virtual currencies, so if such a law is adopted, they will definitely be banned. Despite the criticism of experts, this project has successfully advanced along the road to the Duma, but received a negative opinion from the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation on the ODS procedure.
At the same time in the Duma, this draft law is already waiting. In particular, deputies from the party “Fair Russia” propose to submit a draft and begin to consider it even before the Ministry of Finance completes it.
In this situation, unfortunately, we see no reason to support the existence of the Association. At the moment, we do not have an understanding of how it is possible to lawfully assist in the development of the cryptocurrency sphere in Russia. However, we are always ready for dialogue, and also to offer our help and domain expertise to the regulatory authorities if they want to make contact. We very much hope that, following the consideration of the draft law, a total ban on virtual currencies will not be introduced, and an attempt to ban technology will be replaced by a ban on violations of the law using technology, which seems more logical to us.
Based on this, in October 2014 at a meeting of the founders it was decided to liquidate the Association. This does not mean that we abandon our vision of the situation. We will continue, as far as possible and within the law, to try to do the things that lead Russia along the path of progress. If the current policy of the authorities changes, or we feel that by legal methods we can take part in such a change, it is likely that we will revive the Association, taking into account our past mistakes.
But, unfortunately, the current vector is not planning to change yet, which was clearly shown by blocking sites that took place on January 13, 2015. The decision on them was made on September 30, 2014, but was not published anywhere and was not executed, although 05.11 came into force. 2014. At the moment, only bitcoinconf.ru (the new domain bitcoinconf.moscow ) and btcsec.com (the new domain bits.media ) are appealing to the court of this decision.
A new version of the draft law also appeared on the Single Portal, which suggests equating virtual currencies and Bitcoin in particular to money substitutes and establishing responsibility for its use, and even for disseminating information about virtual currencies. The only difference from the past, the rejected option was the exclusion from the concept of "money surrogate" bonus points, "airline miles", gift certificates and other promotional offers. The calculation of the authors of this change is quite understandable: last time, representatives of business, who were directly involved and limited in the use of both already introduced customer reward systems and the overall development of this direction of attracting and retaining customers, actively repulsed the law. Therefore, removing them from the blow, the authors of the draft law hope to take him to the Duma with minimal resistance this time.
And nevertheless, we sincerely hope that our lawmakers will not follow the simplest way of total prohibitions, but they will fully approach the issue of regulating the market of cryptocurrencies for the benefit of our country.
PS Do not hang your nose!
As goals, we set ourselves the unification of cryptocurrency operators and the consolidation of opinions for interaction with regulators of the Russian Federation, as well as assistance in organizing legal regulation in the field of cryptocurrencies. It was also planned to interact with similar foreign associations to study best practices and exchange experiences.
Originally planned to name the association “Association of Cryptocurrency Operators of Russia (AKOR)”.
Next was the work on the draft Charter. There were questions on the goals of the organization, on interaction with government bodies. There was also a question about the word “operators”, which appeared in the name of the association relative to FZ-161, since this term is uniquely defined by the Bank of Russia, and its use is still a big question regarding cryptocurrency. The same was the reasoning of the "currencies", as there could be obvious misunderstandings and questions. In the world and Russian law there are no legal interpretations and notions of “currency without an issuer”, but it was decided to leave it, as there is still no equal sign between the terms “cryptovallate” and “currency”. A similar situation with the word "crypto", since cryptography immediately falls under the appropriate license.
')
As a result, we settled on the abbreviated name “Association of Cryptocurrency Users”, the full name “ASSOCIATION OF USERS OF A DISTRIBUTED COMPUTER NETWORK BASED ON THE ORIGINAL OPEN CODE OF THE BITCOIN SYSTEM AND ITS ANALOGUES”.
The Charter and the Memorandum of Association were signed, after which the documents were submitted to the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation for official registration of the Association.
In March, the Ministry of Justice passed a positive decision on registration, in April all documents were received.
It was planned that any citizens and legal entities recognizing its Charter and Memorandum of Association who can contribute to the realization of the goals and objectives of the Association can be members of the Association.
And we set quite serious goals:
- Research activities in the field of Cryptocurrency;
- Consolidation of the opinions of the members of the Association and bringing opinions to interested citizens, legal entities and state bodies, as well as protecting the legitimate interests of its members and providing members of the Association with legal and advisory assistance;
- Promoting the creation of effective legal regulation and control in the field of Cryptocurrencies;
- Participation in the manner prescribed by law in the preparation of regulatory decisions on issues affecting the cryptocurrency system;
And many others.
In January 2014, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation issued its information letter “On the use of“ virtual currencies ”, in particular, Bitcoin, when making transactions.” In which, although it did not contain a direct ban on the use of cryptocurrencies, the meaning of the message was quite understandable. After him, open conversations about the work on the implementation of cryptocurrencies with credit organizations was practically useless. Many private companies that were loyal to cryptocurrency before have either stopped accepting it or frozen their plans for accepting if they were still implemented. Even some private companies responded to this statement, working with cryptocurrencies for which was the main business. For example, the popular exchange MetaBank has completely curtailed the exchange of cryptocurrencies.
On February 6, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation published the results of a meeting on the issue of the legality of using anonymous payment systems and cryptocurrencies. The main conclusion reached by the expert group under the Interdepartmental Working Group on Counteraction to Economic Crimes proved to be disappointing:
“The anonymous payment systems and cryptocurrencies that have received a certain distribution, including the most well-known of them, Bitcoin, are money substitutes and cannot be used by citizens and legal entities.”
Despite the fact that the General Prosecutor’s Office, like the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, are not legislative bodies and cannot give such definitions, their mood and message were quite understandable. Moreover, this meeting adopted “a number of specific decisions aimed at preventing violations of the property rights of citizens and organizations related to the use of cryptocurrencies”, which in practice resulted in prosecutor’s checks of organizations that publicly announced acceptance of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation.
The lack of legality of the definitions was decided to be corrected by the Ministry of Finance, which in August 2014 prepared a draft law, in which it is proposed to equate virtual currencies to money surrogates. This project is available for review on the Unified State Portal . Cryptocurrencies are a subset of virtual currencies, so if such a law is adopted, they will definitely be banned. Despite the criticism of experts, this project has successfully advanced along the road to the Duma, but received a negative opinion from the Ministry of Economic Development of the Russian Federation on the ODS procedure.
At the same time in the Duma, this draft law is already waiting. In particular, deputies from the party “Fair Russia” propose to submit a draft and begin to consider it even before the Ministry of Finance completes it.
In this situation, unfortunately, we see no reason to support the existence of the Association. At the moment, we do not have an understanding of how it is possible to lawfully assist in the development of the cryptocurrency sphere in Russia. However, we are always ready for dialogue, and also to offer our help and domain expertise to the regulatory authorities if they want to make contact. We very much hope that, following the consideration of the draft law, a total ban on virtual currencies will not be introduced, and an attempt to ban technology will be replaced by a ban on violations of the law using technology, which seems more logical to us.
Based on this, in October 2014 at a meeting of the founders it was decided to liquidate the Association. This does not mean that we abandon our vision of the situation. We will continue, as far as possible and within the law, to try to do the things that lead Russia along the path of progress. If the current policy of the authorities changes, or we feel that by legal methods we can take part in such a change, it is likely that we will revive the Association, taking into account our past mistakes.
But, unfortunately, the current vector is not planning to change yet, which was clearly shown by blocking sites that took place on January 13, 2015. The decision on them was made on September 30, 2014, but was not published anywhere and was not executed, although 05.11 came into force. 2014. At the moment, only bitcoinconf.ru (the new domain bitcoinconf.moscow ) and btcsec.com (the new domain bits.media ) are appealing to the court of this decision.
A new version of the draft law also appeared on the Single Portal, which suggests equating virtual currencies and Bitcoin in particular to money substitutes and establishing responsibility for its use, and even for disseminating information about virtual currencies. The only difference from the past, the rejected option was the exclusion from the concept of "money surrogate" bonus points, "airline miles", gift certificates and other promotional offers. The calculation of the authors of this change is quite understandable: last time, representatives of business, who were directly involved and limited in the use of both already introduced customer reward systems and the overall development of this direction of attracting and retaining customers, actively repulsed the law. Therefore, removing them from the blow, the authors of the draft law hope to take him to the Duma with minimal resistance this time.
And nevertheless, we sincerely hope that our lawmakers will not follow the simplest way of total prohibitions, but they will fully approach the issue of regulating the market of cryptocurrencies for the benefit of our country.
PS Do not hang your nose!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/251093/
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