The anti-bitcoin stance of the Russian government has been frequently making rounds in the media circles. There have been reports that Russian lawmakers submitted a new draft bill to the country’s legislative assembly Duma in December and Russian Presidential Advisor said that accepting bitcoin is a crime. In addition, there have also been reports that the country might penalize use of the digital currency.

According to latest reports, Russian Ministry of Finance has prepared stricter amendment to the Criminal Code that establishes penalties for release of money substitutes.

Interfax reported that according to the new amendments:

• Persons issuing money substitutes could now face a fine up to 500,000 rubles or the salary or other income of the convicted for a period of up to 3 years, or imprisonment for up to 4 years. 
• Organized groups, for the same offense, are punishable by a fine of 500,000 rubles to 1 million rubles or the salary or other income for a period of 2 to 4 years, or imprisonment for up to 6 years.
• Top managers of a financial institutions (bank, insurance company, professional participants of the securities market, pension funds, mutual fund management companies and private pension funds, MFI, etc.) face up to 7 years of imprisonment with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities for up to 3 years or a fine of 1 million rubles to 2.5 million rubles or the salary or other income for a period of 2 to 4 years.

A previous version of the bill was comparatively less stringent and required those who are guilty of issuing cryptocurrency to be “fined in the amount of half a million rubles, or sent to correctional work for up to two years”.

Blockchain Continues To Garner Interest

While all this talk about bitcoin ban has been going on in Russia, the country has shown its interest in exploring blockchain technology that underpins bitcoin.

Recently appointed Internet advisor to Russian president Vladimir Putin German Klimenko told Lenta.ru, a Russian news service, that the technology is “amazingly interesting” and that he expects lots of experiments in this space. Moreover, the Central Bank of Russia has recently set up a working group to explore the blockchain technology.

BitRuble

Qiwi, a leading provider of next-generation payment services in Russia and the CIS, recently suggested that it plans to move forward with its digital currency project ‘BitRuble’, amid growing regulatory restrictions in Russia. BitRuble is a new cryptocurrency developed using blockchain technology. However, in the light of the new proposed amendments, the stance of the company on this project remains to be seen.