The State Duma Committee recommends rejecting amendments that would ease crypto restrictions; the annual purchase limit for retail investors remains at 300k rubles.

PANews July 17, citing Bits.media, the Russian State Duma’s Financial Markets Committee has recommended rejecting amendments aimed at easing cryptocurrency trading restrictions. The bill is about to enter its critical second reading. The committee opposes raising the annual limit for non-professional investors to buy cryptocurrencies through a single intermediary from 300k rubles to 600k rubles, and it also rejected a proposal to expand the list of tradable cryptocurrencies (the government version restricts it to only a very small number of coins such as Bitcoin and Ethereum).

The unapproved amendments also include provisions allowing the use of non-custodial wallets, removing the requirement for digital depository institutions to obtain mandatory consent for trades, and requiring depository institutions to insure against risks such as hacker attacks. The final version of the bill preserves the power of depository institutions to inspect and freeze transactions. The bill was originally planned to be passed before July 1, but has now been postponed to September 1. The chair of the Duma’s Financial Markets Committee said that the relevant penalty provisions will not be approved before September.