The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) is requesting information from banks and other financial institutions on a variety of financial transactions involving private individuals, includes cryptocurrency investors. The regulation is likely to have an impact on online crypto exchangers, whom the authority accuses of operating illegally.
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) intends to collect data from cryptocurrency transactions and supervise the progress of other commercial banks as part of its efforts to crack down on transactions it considers illicit.
Digital coin exchanges, private money transfers, and other financial transactions fall within this category. While suspecting blockchain exchanges of functioning illegally in the nation, CBR disclosed this information.
According to local media, the action affects a variety of platforms that use accounts established in the names of dummy people, including online bookies and websites that provide crypto trading services.
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What’s the reason for this new regulation?
According to RBC, a Russian financial news source, the authority had given banks a new transaction monitoring report. The CBR aims to obtain details on money transactions between Individuals, along with the private information of the senders and receivers of the payments, according to the first report.
The monetary regulator made it clear in a press release reported by Prime that the action is focused on recognizing possible risks linked with the use of card transactions and wallets approved to fake individuals by cryptocurrency exchangers, gambling websites, and exploitive participants in the financial market for settlements with Russian citizens, rather than enforcing overall authority over personal transactions.
The Bank of Russia went on to say that it only wants to acquire anonymized data from financial organizations that provide payment services to individuals if their platforms are being used for criminal activities. It also claimed that it does not propose to establish new monitoring methods for all payments, clarifying that it was responding to specific scenarios in which large amounts of money are delivered to the same recipient in multiple transactions over a short period of time.
According to the CBR, such transactions are definitely not typical payments between individuals and small enterprises. The central bank also stated that if it notices transactions that fulfill specific criteria, it may request additional information from banks’ registers, but it would not ask for details that can often be used to identify specific individuals.
The central bank is looking into ways to restrict Russians from investing in crypto assets, such as banning card payments to specific receivers such as cryptocurrency exchanges. Despite projections in its recently released Financial Stability Overview for the second and third quarters of 2021 that the annual volume of digital currency transactions done by Russian residents is approximately $5 billion, this isn’t the case.
Are Cryptocurrency Regulations on the Way?
Further cryptocurrency rules may be implemented in several nations throughout the world, according to reports. Naturally, this would elicit some criticism from blockchain users.
If you already hold digital coins or are mining cryptocurrencies, experts outline some of the steps you should take before new restrictions take effect.
Getting organized, employing portfolio management software tools, and other methods for keeping track of your cryptocurrency are among them.
