The Russian Ministry of Finance is considering the possibility of prohibiting the sale of cryptocurrencies to individuals.

The Ministry proposes to equate the cryptocurrencies to financial assets and sell them through the Moscow stock exchange under the supervision of the state financial regulator Rosfinmonitoring, said Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev in an interview to the state TV channel “Rossiya 24”. At the same time, only qualified investors will get access to the sale and purchase.

“As for traditional cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, then of course there are different points of view. There is a view that this is a financial pyramid. Strictly speaking, it's hard to argue with this. And, of course, investments in such a tool are highly risky. This determines our approach to their regulation. We suggest to not call it currency, and not regulate it as currency, regulate as… other property, classify it as a financial asset and allow only classified investors to buy and sell it on the exchange.”

The deputy minister recalled the increased use of cryptocurrencies in illegal operations. According to him, transactions with cryptocurrencies to the Moscow Exchange will make it possible to tighten control over compliance with anti-money laundering legislation.

“It is why we want to move all operations to the exchange, because it will comply with the rule “know your customer”, so that the regulator, Rosfinmonitoring, could always identify the sellers and buyers.”

 The Ministry of Finance will present this concept of a new vision for cryptocurrency regulation in the Russian Government in the near term.