Russia's Central Bank Releases First Draft Regulation on "Organized Trading" of Digital Assets

Odaily Odaily Planet Daily News: The Central Bank of Russia has released a draft regulation on "organized trading" of digital assets and digital rights, aiming to set access and operational rules for cryptocurrency exchanges and digital custodians. The draft requires exchanges to determine the trading process through their own rulebooks and calculate market prices as well as volume-weighted average prices. It also proposes the establishment of digital custodians responsible for bookkeeping, with their registered capital required to be between 50 million and 250 million rubles, and assets must be of high liquidity and credit quality. Electronic platform operators must also meet similar capital requirements and assume the settlement function for nominal accounts of digital financial assets. The draft has entered the regulatory impact assessment stage, building upon the previously passed cryptocurrency market bill. While continuing to prohibit the use of cryptocurrencies for domestic payments, it provides a framework for compliant retail trading.