Russian Agency Establishes a Registry of Trustworthy Crypto Projects

Soon, digital currency fraud will be entirely forgone in Russia, after the local association of cryptocurrencies and blockchain established a registry of whitelisted institutions that operate in the crypto sector. The comprehensive list includes mining forms, ICOs, investments and exchange platforms. Also, the virtual currencies regulation bill has been pushed forward.

Since the beginning of the year, crypto investors in Russia have reported losses worth $4.3 million, mostly to fraudulent blockchain projects. As a result, the concerned association decided to create a registry that will act as a reference for individuals looking to invest in the cryptocurrency industry. Furthermore, the agency has also initiated an intense crackdown against suspicious cryptocurrency projects. According to the Russian Association of Cryptocurrencies and Blockchain (RACIB), the whitelist will enable both local and foreign investors to base their trade on reliable institutions and mitigate the occurrence of fraud.

Moreover, RACIB added that the registry comprises of projects that have undergone voluntary vetting to ascertain the trustworthiness. The criteria deployed during the scrutiny of assessed aspects such as financial stability, lack of criminal records, availability of certificates and licenses (where applicable), compliance with taxation, and reputation. Presently, the registry has over 50 listed companies, with an additional 30 still undergoing the vetting process.

RCIB further stressed that the listed companies are entirely dependable. For a company to be included in this registry, it has to apply on the RACIB website. Normally, the application involves the submission of documents as per the criteria mentioned above. Once this is done, the project has to wait for the review of the papers, a process that takes at most 10 days. Notably, third-party authentication does not occur during this period.

On the other hand, the Russian legislature is yet to make significant progress towards the regulation of digital currencies and ICOs. The regulation, known as the bill on digital financial assets, recently passed the first reading phase. In 2017, the Russian president Vladimir Putin ordered that the regulation is completed by July this year. However, this deadline has since been pushed forward to September.

The reason behind this postponement is the delay in the formulation of anti-money laundering standards concerning the use of cryptocurrencies, according to Elina Sidorenko. Without these policies, it is impossible to implement the legislation, Elina said. While the initial draft of these standards was expected to be reviewed at the end of June, this process has been shifted to September, affecting the passing of the regulation bill.

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