Russian Ministry of Justice disagrees with Bitcoin ban bill

The Russian Ministry of Justice has disagreed with the bitcoin bill prepared by the Ministry of Justice, despite the bill being the second version of the draft, due to be entered into the State Duma – the lower chamber of the Russian Parliament.

The first draft saw the Ministry of Justice disagreeing with some of the wording of the bill, specifically the lack of a precise definition for money substitutes or surrogates, as described in the bill. The term is one frequently used to describe Bitcoin by Russian authorities who have taken a hardline stance against the cryptocurrency.

The draft law has now been agreed upon by the Ministry of Justice of Russia because the provided bill does not take the comments previously made by the Office (of the Ministry of Justice), into account. In this regard, a protocol of the conciliation meeting toward the bill was signed.

Notably, the draft bill will still be presented to the State Duma, despite the disagreement shown toward the bill by the Ministry of Justice.

With the bill, the Finance Ministry also proposes that the power of investigation in cases of exchange of cryptocurrency for rubles lay squarely in the hands of the Investigative Committee of Russia.