Since the beginning of the year 2020, the Russian Government has shown a lot of interest in cryptocurrency adoption. Over the course of the entire year, the Russian government accepted cryptocurrencies as legal securities in the country. The country also launched the project for introducing its own CBDC with the help of the central banks.
The Russian government has taken a lot of steps to ensure that while the crypto-industry adoption grows in the country, regulations are also amended/updated to keep things under control.
It was back in July when the cryptocurrency assets were legally accepted as assets in the country. That is when it was announced that the new legislation and laws on cryptocurrencies will be implemented from the 1st of January, 2021.
However, the Russian government made an announcement towards the end of the year 2020 that raised a lot of concerns among the Russian officials.
It was announced by the Russian government that every Russian official will have to reveal their assets by June of 2021. The government gave strict orders that if an official fails to reveal his/her assets or tries to evade it, will be met with strict regulatory actions.
The penalties that were ruled by the Russian government for not complying with the orders included heavy fines plus imprisonment for several years.
Now that the cryptocurrency legislation is in place since January, many questions are still pending to be answered. The main question around the cryptocurrencies is that how are the Russian officials expected to deal with their crypto-assets.
According to the new law around cryptocurrencies, individuals, as well as the Russian officials with aims to hold the public office, must disclose their cryptocurrency assets. In addition to their assets, the individuals will also be required to reveal assets of their spouse and children.
The legislation has been passed by the Russian government to ensure that even the government officials are as compliant with the new regulations as any other. This is the reason why government officials are required to declare their crypto-financial assets and holdings.
However, there is another legislation that states that government officials are not to have any cryptocurrencies in their holdings. The legislation has been passed and implemented on the Russian officials as part of the anti-corruption measurements.
It was back on December 28, 2020, when the Russian Ministry of Labour and Social Protection reminded the Russian officials of this legislation. According to the informational letter, it was advised to the Russian officials that despite the orders by the government, they need to liquidate their crypto-holdings.
The letter suggested that the Russian officials must do this in accordance with the legislation implemented to avoid any penalties going forward.