Bitcoin surgery can be equated to a crime.
Bitcoin surgery can be equated to a crime.
The Ministry of Finance suggests criminalizing the issuance and circulation of cryptographic currency. Violators may face a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles or two years of correctional labor. The turnover of bitcoins and other virtual money contradicts the current Russian legislation and the Constitution, experts agree with the Ministry of Finance. Even now, the companies, accepting the bitcoins for payment, face a criminal article for legalization of funds.
Ministry of Finance suggests criminalizing the issue of virtual currencies, reports "Interfax," citing a source in one of the government financial and economic block. Anton Siluanov's office suggests supplementing the Criminal Code with an article "The turnover of money surrogates.
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The Ministry of Finance suggests imposing a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles or in the amount of the convicted person's salary or income for a period of up to one year, or compulsory work for up to 360 hours, or corrective work for up to one year.
If the creation and sale of virtual currency was carried out by an organized group, violators will face a fine of up to 500 thousand rubles or corrective work for up to two years.
The Ministry of Finance also suggests amending the law "On Information, Information Technology and Information Protection," which will restrict access to sites that provide the issuance of cryptographic currency and conduct operations with it. The Central Bank will identify the information about cryptocurrencies.
The struggle of the Russian authorities against the circulation of cryptocurrencies has been going on for the last two years. In January 2014, the Russian Central Bank issued a note stating that the issuance and exchange of cryptovalut in Russia contradicts Article 27 of the law "On the Bank of Russia".
As a result, the Bank of Russia equated the provision of virtual currency exchange services, including Bitcoin, by Russian legal entities to illegal activities related to money laundering and terrorism financing.
In September 2015, the regulator announced the creation of a special working group to study the work of the blockchain technology - a database that stores the information on all transactions of the bitcoin crypt currency that ever existed.
The General Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Federal Security Service also spoke out against the cryptographic currency, stating that it is prohibited to introduce "other monetary units and issue monetary surrogates in Russia". At the same time, if a company that decides to accept bitcoins as a means of payment is identified, criminal proceedings may be initiated against its managers under Article 174 of the RF Criminal Code (legalization of money or other property acquired by other persons through criminal means).
However, the negative attitude of the authorities to cryptographic currency does not scare Russian business yet. In September, the Qiwi payment system launched the development of its own Russian crypt currency - bitruble. The issue is scheduled for 2016. General Director and co-owner of the company Sergei Solonin said that the launch will use blockchain technology, which runs the Bitcoin system. However, as noted by Qiwi, the launch will require several hundred million rubles and a regulatory solution.
Production and turnover of cryptov currencies is possible only if their issuer is the Russian Central Bank, experts say.
"If the Central Bank rejects the ruble and starts issuing this very money - please, use it. But until this happens, you, operating with such currencies, enter into collusion with criminals. This means that you yourself become a bit of a criminal," explained Financial Ombudsman Pavel Medvedev to Gazeta.ru.
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