You can't hide from us: the law on digital financial assets in the Russian Federation

On January 1, 2021, Federal Law No. 259 "On Digital Financial Assets, digital Currency and on Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation” came into force. The new regulatory and legal act is devoted to the regulation of the relations arising during the issuance, accounting and circulation of digital financial assets, as well as the relations related to the turnover of the digital currency in the Russian Federation. From now on, the state has given a clear definition of the already widely applicable concepts of "digital financial assets «and "digital currency".

The new law also provides for amendments to Federal Law No. 79, adopted in 2013, which prohibits certain categories of persons from opening and having accounts or deposits, storing cash and valuables in foreign banks located outside the Russian Federation, as well as owning or using foreign financial instruments. The innovation refers to the digital financial assets issued in information systems created in accordance with the foreign law, and digital currency as foreign financial instruments.

Moreover, based on the provisions of the new law, the persons named in it are obliged to alienate their digital financial assets issued in information systems organized in accordance with the foreign law, as well as digital currency, by April 1, 2021. As indicated in the explanatory note, the adoption of these measures is primarily aimed at countering corruption, which the state is now trying to fight.

Link to the sources: https://sozd.duma.gov.ru/bill/419059-7