The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) is reportedly taking steps to prevent mutual investment funds from investing in crypto assets such as bitcoin. The restrictions will also apply to derivative investments, where the value depends on the rate of volatility of the underlying asset or the price of the securities tied to the cryptocurrency.
The central bank explained the move was needed to protect funds and investors' rights. The move not only involves unqualified investors but also qualified ones. It will be introduced through the CBR 2016 amendment which is “composition and asset structure of mutual share investment funds and mutual investment fund assets”.
Russian banks have recently published a preliminary draft of the changes in the discussions.All feedback or suggestions on the draft document will be open until 27 December. Regulators have introduced new provisions after warning asset managers earlier this year that they should not include crypto assets in their mutual funds.
Last July, CBR advised Russian stock exchanges to avoid listing instruments based on crypto assets and recommended that brokers and trustees should refrain from offering inappropriate things. In addition, the authorities stated it would not allow access to crypto for such investors and denied the provision of related financial services.
The results of a survey released this month show that alternative assets such as crypto assets account for more than half of the portfolio of unqualified investors in the country. Meanwhile, 46% of 1,000 respondents admitted that they only consider crypto assets as hedging investments for the future.
Last October, the Head of the Financial Markets Office, Anatoly Aksakov, revealed that lawmakers in the Russian parliamentary chamber (Duma), plan to examine restrictions for private investors on the purchase of cryptocurrencies.
In October 2020, Bank of Russia proposed an annual limit of 600,000 rubles (more than $ 8,000) and also asked for public opinion on the amount. It is expected that after the ruling, the limit will be included in the “Digital Financial Assets” law which came into force in January, but unfortunately that did not happen.
