Russia plans to restrict non-professional investors from buying foreign stablecoins

PANews July 17, according to Bits.media, the final version of Russia’s crypto regulatory bill has added new restrictions. It plans to ban non-professional investors from purchasing foreign stablecoins. This group covers the vast majority of residents in the country. The bill introduces two concepts—“foreign digital instruments” and “non-settled foreign digital instruments.” Collateral-backed stablecoins are classified under the latter. Qualified investors may purchase foreign digital instruments, while non-qualified investors may only purchase specific assets from the special list maintained by the central bank.

At the end of June, the Bank of Russia put forward a draft stablecoin regulatory framework, requiring that all transactions be carried out under national control and completed via exchanges or legal exchange points. Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina previously said she had a “cautious” attitude toward foreign stablecoins because their issuers can freeze assets in users’ wallets.