Bill allows Russian financial platforms to operate blockchains and issue digital assets

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A draft law was filed in the Russian parliament that allows operators of financial platforms to also operate blockchain platforms. They will be able to combine their traditional activities in the financial market with the issuing of digital assets through the legislation.
Russian Financial Service Providers Get Blockchain Space with New Law
The Russian State Duma, which is the lower house of the parliament, has approved a bill that allows financial marketplaces to function as blockchain platforms for the issuance and trading of digital financial assets (DFAs).
Anatoly Aksakov (chairman of the parliamentary Financial Market Committee), is the initiator of the legislative initiative. Crypto news outlets Bits.media, RBC Crypto reported. Its primary purpose is to support the development of tokenized cashless payment, the digital ruble and DFAs.
These are covered by the law “On Digital Financial Assets”, which was in force January 20, 2021. It mostly covers digital assets that have an issuer. Russia has yet to legalize transactions using decentralized cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin.

The new bill is a continuation of the law “On Conducting financial transactions utilizing Financial Platforms,” which was in effect in 2020. The financial platforms are information systems that allow financial institutions to meet consumers online.
These platforms allow individual investors to access financial instruments, banking, and insurance services as well as services offered in the securities market by companies. The sponsors stated that the possibility of integrating financial and blockchain services will allow their operators to perform more activities and offer more products and services.
The Russian government is exploring ways to expand its digital assets market amid Western financial restrictions. The Central Bank of Russia already has several entities on its list of authorized DFA issuers. These include the tokenization service Atomyze and Lighthouse, the fintech company Lighthouse as well as Sberbank, Alfa-Bank, Russia’s largest private and state-owned banks.
Do you think that the new law will encourage the development of digital assets and blockchain technologies in Russia? Comment below.