Vladimir Putin Asks Cabinet to Design a System to Declare Crypto Holdings

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued an order to his cabinet and the nation’s central bank to build a system that forces citizens to declare their cryptocurrencies. According to INC-News, the President aims to collect all the information via a joint report led by the Russian Finance Ministry, after communicating the order to the Ministry of Labor and the central bank’s leaders.

“The Ministry of Finance, with the participation of the Ministry of Labor, the Ministry of Finance, and the Bank of Russia, should prepare proposals on the procedure for verifying the accuracy and completeness of information on the ownership of digital financial assets, other digital rights, digital currency. A report on the results of execution to submit by November 15, 2021,” the official document reads.

Furthermore, Putin instructed the correspondent departments as part of the decree “On the National Anti-Corruption Plan for 2021-2024” to conduct the analysis and thus providing information on everything related to crypto holdings. Moreover, the government seeks to collect data on the costs of acquiring cryptocurrencies. The maneuver comes in the wake of rising concerns on corruption’s figures skyrocketing. In fact, Russia is in 129th place out of 180 countries in Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.

Russian Stock Exchanges and Crypto Firms

Also, Russia is known for its ambiguous stance towards the crypto markets. Recently, Finance Magnates reported that the Bank of Russia issued a recommendation for local stock exchanges this week, asking them not to list stocks of any companies with their businesses tied to cryptocurrencies.

In addition, the letter signed by the First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, Sergei Shvetsov, asked the stock exchanges to avoid listing any local or foreign crypto companies. The central bank also instructed the fund mutual fund managers, brokers, and trustees not to include companies with crypto exposure in their managed portfolios.