The Russian parliament adopted a bill on digital financial assets, which contains a clause prohibiting payments for goods and services in cryptocurrencies. However, it is officially allowed to own and buy cryptocurrency and blockchain tokens.

On July 22, Russian State Duma adopted the draft law "On digital financial assets and digital currencies." It will enter into force on January 1, 2021. The bill introduces the concepts of "digital financial assets" (DFA) and "digital currencies", as well as defines the rights and obligations of founders of blockchain projects and financial service providers working with these assets (exchanges, banks, etc.).

According to the document, DFA are securities, the issue, accounting and circulation of which is possible only through blockchain systems (an information system based on a distributed ledger). DFA are not legal tender.

The bill allows to issue digital financial assets. But for their release, it will be necessary to apply for registration in a special register of the Bank of Russia and meet certain requirements for the technical part and management staff. Thus, it is allowed to use only domain names and network addresses located in the Russian national domain zone. DFA and digital currencies can be inherited, reported theft, be part of bankruptcy proceedings, but they must be declared. The authorized capital of companies working with DFA must be at least 50 million rubles ($800,000).

The bill also contains a clause on the turnover of digital currencies, the definition of which includes cryptocurrencies.

According to the law, digital currency is “a set of electronic data (digital code) contained in the information system, which are offered and (or) can be accepted as a means of payment that is not a currency of the Russian Federation, a currency of a foreign state and (or) an international monetary or unit of account, and (or) accepted as an investment in respect of which there is no person obligated to each owner of such electronic data”.

Thus, digital currencies are recognized as a store of value, they can be bought and sold, but they are prohibited from being used to pay for goods and services. It will be possible to buy cryptocurrencies on foreign exchanges.