Finance Ministry amends law to punish for cryptocurrency payments

MOSCOW, Dec 6 (PRIME) – The Finance Ministry is amending a law to say that cryptocurrencies can be bought, but their use as a means of payment must be punished, Deputy Minister Alexei Moiseyev told reporters on Wednesday.

“In cases when people bought (cryptocurrencies) somewhere, let it be so. We don’t punish them, but we don’t protect them either. It is neither permitted nor banned,” Moiseyev said, referring to responsibility for using cryptocurrencies.

“Constitution declares the ruble as a means of settlement on the territory of the Russian Federation meaning that nothing else can be used. If you lack rubles, you can sell your bitcoin (a popular cryptocurrency) for rubles and buy a pie in LavkaLavka for rubles. But you cannot go and pay in bitcoins, this is a constitutional principle,” the official said.

Violations are not currently punished by law. “We’ll write the application of the constitutional principle and punishment for various degrees of its breaches in more detail. Punishment will vary, will be mostly of an administrative character. But if anyone creates any cryptocurrencies for settlements, it could be a criminal offence. Penal sanctions will be imposed for a massive scale,” Moiseyev said.

End