Russia All Out For Crypto Regulation, US Dollar Dominance Under Threat?

Russia is making big plans for crypto regulation in the region by November. Notably, the process has already commenced but will be finalized in the next few months. According to Anatoly Aksakov, the Chairman of the State Duma Financial Market Committee, Russia’s Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance will prepare the necessary by-laws from now until the scheduled time.

Russia Rolls Out Crypto Regulation Gradually

At the beginning of this month, the law that permits the use of crypto payments in foreign trade settlements and exchange trading within the framework of an experimental legal regime came into force. However, it needed full regulation, including bylaws, to establish rules for cross-border crypto payments.

Russia’s financial authorities will see that all these processes are finalized by November.

In addition to preparing the crypto regulation and bylaws, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance will consider the circle of individuals and organizations that will take part in the first stage of the process. The participants will include credit institutions and banks.

According to Aksakov, these entities would help to “feel out” the mechanism of this market. They will also help the authorities to better understand how to regulate it. As time progresses, the number of participants for the process will be expanded.

The Threat to US Dollar

Despite the crypto regulation moves, Russia is keen on not getting the assets into the wrong hands. The country acknowledged the versatility of the asset class and how it could also be misused.

Also, Russia has no plans to fully replace its fiat currency Ruble with cryptocurrencies. The Chairman of the State Duma Financial Market Committee stated that it would only be used for foreign trading activities and not for payment within Russia.

This move is in sync with the primary goal of the BRICS Group, a bloc of countries with some of the world’s leading economies. Member countries of this group are focused on challenging the dominance of USD. It is worth noting that Russia is one of the founding members of this bloc.

For the longest time, the BRICS Group has been trying to develop an alternative to the USD for cross-border settlements. They have onsidered the use of digital assets and some other asset classes for some time now. Last month, Russia hinted at building a Chinese yuan-pegged BRICS stablecoin to further push the de-dollarization efforts.