Unqualified investors can buy up to $8K of crypto, says Bank of Russia

The central bank of Russia proposed to set limits on annual cryptocurrency investments by non-professional investors.

The Bank of Russia suggested that unqualified investors in Russia should not be allowed to invest more than 600,000 Russian rubles ($7,800) in digital assets per year.

The authority laid out the new proposal in an explanatory note referring to Russia’s newly passed crypto law, “On Digital Financial Assets,” or DFA. 

The official statement stipulates that the new regulatory restriction will involve not only digital financial assets but also “other digital rights”:

“Individuals representing unqualified investors will have a limit on the amount of digital financial assets for annual purchase at a total of 600 thousand rubles. The limit for the acquisition of digital rights for unqualified investors who hold both digital financial assets and other digital rights is set at 600 thousand rubles for digital financial assets and 600 thousand rubles for other digital rights.”

The new restriction will be enforced in conjunction with Russia’s DFA law on Jan. 1, 2020. The central bank is accepting public proposals and feedback about published restrictions from Oct. 13 till Oct. 27, 2020, the statement notes.

In the explanatory note, the Bank of Russia outlined the bank’s regulatory competences regarding the DFA law. In accordance with the DFA law, the bank “has the right to determine features of digital financial assets whose acquisition can be only made by an individual who is a qualified investor.”Officially passed into law in July 2020, the DFA does not include information on limits on the amount of crypto purchases by qualified or unqualified investors in Russia.

As the Russian ruble has been weakening in recent years, the amount of the potential crypto investment limit could apparently be devaluating in the future. When the Bank of Russia first suggested the 600,000 ruble crypto purchases limit back in 2019, the amount was worth about $9,100.

In conjunction with the new regulatory proposals, the Bank of Russia also published a consultation paper on the issuance of the digital ruble on Oct. 13.