Russia forced to include bitcoin definition in its cryptocurrency legislation

• FATF requested that the lawmakers expanded the proposed legislation.
• The cryptocurrency community believes it will have a positive effect on the industry.

Russia delays the adoption of the long-awaited cryptocurrency law following the requirements of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF).

The lawmakers were forced to postpone the decision as to the FATF required to expand the terminology of the proposed legislation, according to Anatoliy Aksakov, chairman of the financial market committee of the lower chamber of the parliament. 

The Russian authorities will have to include a definition of cryptocurrency in the Bill on Digital Assets. The draft of the Bill is now prepared for the second reading. 

Aksakov explained that the lawmakers did not want to mention cryptocurrencies and bitcoin in the Bill due to the specific position of the central bank. However, the FATF required to include those aspects in the text. Now the lawmakers will have to either provide definitions in the Bill itself or develop separate legislation with the rules and regulations for those cryptocurrency instruments.

The Russian experts are very enthusiastic about the news as it means that Russia will eventually have a precise regulation for bitcoins.

According to Michail Uspenskiy, the partner of the law company Taxology and the deputy chairman of the Committee on legal support for the digital economy, this is exciting news for the whole crypto community. The legislators tried to avoid the regulation of traditional cryptocurrencies, including payment tokens issued on public blockchains. Now they will have to deal with the issues. 

Sure enough, the FATF aims to prevent money laundering and terrorist financing with bitcoins, but the side effect of those efforts will be positive for the Russian cryptocurrency industry.