Russia, Mexico and Paraguay Set off on Different Crypto Paths

Senior officials in Russia, Mexico and Paraguay have given hints that their respective countries will seek to regulate cryptocurrencies – with an unprecedented three-pronged approach to crypto, a more considered approach and a suggestion to keep tokens well away from conventional finance all on the cards.

In Russia, the country’s Deputy Finance Minister, Alexei Moiseev, has suggested creating three different categories for cryptocurrencies – and imposing a different set of regulations on each.

Per RNS, Moiseev and the ministry have held talks on the matter with business leaders from the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs – a group comprising some 1,000 Russian enterprises.

Moissev hinted that the parties had agreed on the following definitions:

• Technical tokens: coins that exist to maintain the functioning platforms
• Virtual assets: tokens such as Bitcoin
• Digital financial assets: tokens launched via initial coin offerings (ICOs)

Although Moiseev did not expand on how exactly each of these tokens could be policed, he did suggest that the classification system would help regulators and finance chiefs to overcome the current impasse. The standoff has seen work on the country’s forthcoming cryptocurrency legislation grind to a halt.

The latest deadline for the cryptocurrency bill is November 1, after Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev ordered parliament and the finance ministry to streamline the bill drafting process.

Meanwhile, in Paraguay, the government looks set to rule that companies dealing with cryptocurrencies must comply with the nation’s anti money-laundering (AML) laws. Per Criptonoticas, an MP for the Patria Querida party says parliamentarians have entered discussions with the Central Bank of Paraguay on the subject of cryptocurrencies.

Per the MP, the government will speak to finance officials about whether the country should fine-tune existing legislation or draft a new legislative framework to establish cryptocurrency legislation.

The MP stated that a full set of crypto laws and guidelines would likely be in place by the end of 2020, but that in the lead-up period, exchanges and other businesses dealing with cryptocurrencies must abide by existing AML laws.

And in Mexico, a regulatory official has suggested that cryptocurrencies be kept at a “healthy distance” from the financial system.

According to El Financiero, a member of the Consejo Emisor del Consejo Mexicano de Normas de Información Financiera (literally the Mexican Council of Financial Information Standards) also stated,

“[Individuals and companies] using [cryptocurrencies] must be identified, and we must establish measures that prevent [cryptocurrencies] from being used to gain from cyber attacks or other illegal activities.”

Meanwhile, as reported, a banking company claims it will allow Mexican customers to make payments in cryptocurrencies using debit cards. The firm, named Tauros, says its new digital account lets customers keep money in fiat as well as tokens including bitcoin.