All Bitcoin-Fiat transactions will be tracked in Russia
The Federal Financial Monitoring Service, Rosfinmonitoring, will closely monitor transactions between Bitcoin and fiat currencies, Deputy director of the department Herman Neglyad said on Wednesday during a hearing on financial markets in the national parliament.
Russian financial monitoring service takes Bitcoin over
The agency responsible for tracking illegal funds, preventing money laundering and criminal financing has increased interest in cryptocurrencies.
“Banks are already paying attention to such exchange operations, which means that when they see that money comes after exchanging virtual assets for hard currency, they calculate the cost and notify us,” Neglyad said in parliament.
In addition, Neglyad said that the agency is already working with the central bank of the country and will introduce “a separate code that identifies a separate group of such suspicious transactions, that is, to further orient traditional financial institutions to solve this problem.”
Agency`s interest in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies is not a news. Last August, the agency said it was developing a blockchain transaction tracking tool that would identify the ultimate beneficiaries of cryptocurrency transactions.
In general, Russia is trying to create a controlled atmosphere for cryptocurrencies. The country treats Bitcoin as property but imposes strict restrictions on the use of the digital currency. Earlier, the ministries put forward many bills on the adoption of laws restricting retail purchases of cryptocurrencies.
Last December, all government officials were ordered to disclose information about their cryptocurrency assets. However, a later order from the country’s Ministry of Labor banned civil servants from owning cryptocurrencies.
Crypto Control
Each country has its own view on cryptocurrency, and its own approach. For all its bans and sanctions, the US is still trying to build a clear regulatory framework for the crypto space without a veto.
Hester Pierce, an American lawyer and commissioner of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), said that a government ban on the use of cryptocurrencies would be stupid. She added that it would be difficult to ban anyone from trading digital currencies.
During a virtual panel discussion hosted by MarketWatch, Pierce emphasized the importance of a clear regulatory framework for crypto in the US. “I think we are well past the point of banning crypto assets in the US, otherwise you will have to turn off the Internet,” the SEC commissioner said.
Pierce is a world-renowned Bitcoin-friendly lawyer. The crypto community gave Pierce the title “Crypto Mom”. She expressed optimism about the creation of a good regulatory framework in the United States for the treatment of Bitcoin and other digital currencies.
“Our approach was more of a’ say no and tell people to wait ‘ approach, so we need to change that. We need to work on creating a structure that is suitable for this industry,” Pierce added.
During an interview with Fox Business in January 2021, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said that the city plans to allow its citizens to pay taxes and fees through Bitcoin. Suarez also mentioned in a recent interview that the US has the ability to provide clean energy for mining PTS.
The latest statements from Pierce and Suarez show that the future of cryptocurrencies in the US looks optimistic. Despite the lack of a clear regulatory framework, cryptocurrency exchanges and trading platforms are reporting a massive surge in demand from retail and institutional investors.
The price of the world’s largest cryptocurrency has increased significantly over the past few months. Bitcoin launched this year at around $29,000, and at the time of writing, the digital asset is trading at around $61K with a market cap of $1.1 trillion.