"Russia Considering Easing Virtual-Asset Regulations to Respond to Western Sanctions"

Russia is reportedly considering measures to ease regulations related to virtual assets (cryptocurrencies) as the international payment environment becomes constrained amid the prolonged Western financial sanctions.

On the 2nd, virtual-asset specialist media Cointelegraph, citing local outlet Kommersant, reported that Vladimir Chistyukhin, First Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Russia, said, "Western countries' sanctions are increasingly restricting the use of normal currencies in overseas payment processes," and "we are discussing easing cryptocurrency regulations in this regard."

Russia has banned the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment since the summer of 2020. However, as difficulties in international remittances have accumulated, demands to adjust the existing regulatory framework have grown.

In particular, the key issue under discussion between the central bank and the Finance Ministry is the relaxation or removal of the 'super-qualified investor' requirement applied to virtual-asset trading. This requirement was introduced in April this year when authorities pushed for the launch of cryptocurrency exchanges and restricts participation in physical-delivery virtual-asset transactions to individuals holding assets of 100 million rubles or more or an annual income of 50 million rubles or more. It has been criticized as a structure that is, in practice, accessible only to a very small number of wealthy individuals.

Deputy Governor Chistyukhin said, "We are re-examining whether this criterion should be retained in the new regulatory framework," and "we should be able to reach an agreement with the Finance Ministry by the end of this month."

Meanwhile, in recent years, amid strengthened U.S. and EU sanctions, Russia has been intensively cracking down on attempts to evade sanctions using virtual assets. The European Union added the Russia-linked ruble stablecoin A7A5 to its sanctions list last October, and the U.S. Treasury has again targeted cryptocurrency exchange Garantex Europe with sanctions.