State Duma Approves Use of Russia’s Digital Assets in International Settlements

cryptonews.com:

State Duma lawmakers have signed off on a bill that will let Russian firms and their partners use the digital ruble and “digital assets” in international settlements.

Per an official State Duma release and a report from the media outlet RBC, lawmakers approved the bill in a second and third reading on February 27.

The bill has seemingly been fast-tracked through the Russian legislature. Lawmakers want domestic firms to start piloting cross-border trades using “digital financial assets.”

Russian law classifies the digital ruble as a “digital financial asset.” Other assets falling into the same category include digitized commodities and securities.

Certain types of NFT may one day also meet the legal definition of “digital assets,” experts have opined.

The State Duma Committee on the Financial Markets approved new amendments to the draft law on February 21 and immediately submitted the draft law to the Duma’s February 27 plenary session.

Moscow may be keen to follow in the footsteps of its allies in Beijing and Dubai. Earlier this month, the nations sealed a CBDC transaction worth $13.6 million using the digital dirham and the e-CNY.

The bill will now head to the Senate for approval. President Vladimir Putin will then need to approve it before it passes into law.

Committee members made several amendments to the draft law after the first reading.

These amendments clarified the procedure for “purchasing digital financial products” on approved “marketplaces.”

The bill also designates Russia’s Central Bank as the chief regulator for digital asset trading. It also lets the bank “determine the conditions and prohibitions for transactions with digital assets.”

Anatoly Aksakov, the Committee’s Chairman and the bill’s chief architect, this