The Russian security services and the Central Bank of Russia reached a consensus on the regulation of virtual money. They propose to prohibit paying with cryptocurrencies in Russia, and allow exchange operations only through operators with special license.

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and the Central Bank of Russia intend to ban bitcoin and other digital assets as a means of payment. The letter with such a proposal was sent to Russian president Vladimir Putin by Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko, the Baza Telegram channel reports.

According to the letter, the FSB proposes to allow exchange operations of digital currencies for fiat or other digital coins only through “specialized operators”. This amendment should be included in the bill “On Digital Financial Assets” expected to be approved by the RUssian parliament this year. Before making any exchange operation, these operators will have to identify owners of the cryptocurrency. It is proposed to introduce administrative and criminal liability for violation of this law.

On January 13, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on the financial market, Anatoly Aksakov, said that the law on digital financial assets would be adopted with this spring a high degree of probability.

The Russian authorities had previously considered introducing criminal liability for operations with cryptocurrencies. Recall that, in 2015, the Ministry of Finance proposed to completely ban any cryptocurrency turnover in Russia, with legal entities to face up to 7 years of imprisonment for violation. That version of the bill did not gain approval.