Russian Central Bank Wants to Cap Bitcoin Buying at USD 7,800 a Year

Once again, Russia has a worrying idea for the local crypto industry and users as Russia’s Central Bank announced a new proposal that would seek to place an annual cap of around USD 7,800 (BTC 0.68) on crypto purchases for everyone in the country barring accredited investors.

In an official release, the Central Bank proposed that the new cap should come into effect from January 1, 2021, when the nation’s very first crypto-related law is promulgated.

Moscow-based crypto investment advisor Dmitriy Zaikov told Cryptonews.com,

“How on Earth does the Central Bank think it is going to be able to enforce this measure? I don’t think they understand how many ways Russians have to buy crypto. Trying to keep track of possible offenders would be an administrative nightmare. I’m guessing this idea gets shelved or at least amended significantly.”

The Central Bank wrote that both “digital financial assets” and “other digital assets” would be included in its cap – meaning that tokenized securities and stablecoin holdings, as well as cryptoassets like bitcoin (BTC), would count toward the total.

No proposed limits were set on the amount professional investors would be allowed to invest in crypto, tokenized securities or stablecoins.

At present, the measures are only proposals – and the Central Bank said it is willing to listen to feedback on the matter until October 27.

The Central Bank and its governor Elvira Nabiullina remain the loudest anti-crypto voices in Moscow.

However, as reported, after last year resoundingly opining that there was “no reason” to launch a digital ruble, the Central Bank released an advisory report on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs), saying that while it’s early to discuss a possible timeline for the digital ruble, it is already necessary to start discussions on the matter.