The Office prepared a draft law on the regulation of the crypto-currency market in which digital financial assets are recognized as illegal means of payment in the territory of Russia. The document is published on the ministry's website. "The development of this bill is due to the need to preserve the constitutional status of the ruble as the only legal tender and to ensure the stability of the financial system of the Russian Federation," the Ministry of Finance. The draft law defines the crypto currency and establishes the rules for issuing tokens. Crypto currency is defined as a digital financial asset created and accounted for in a distributed register of digital transactions by participants in this registry in accordance with the rules of its conduct. Concerning tokens it is said that a token of a certain type can have only one issuer. Unqualified investors will be able to purchase "tokens" in the amount of not more than 50 thousand. rubles. The bill also establishes the concept of "money surrogates" and determines the responsibility for their use as a means of payment. The authors of the document reported the existence of disagreements with the Bank of Russia regarding the possibility of exchanging crypto-currency for rubles, foreign currency or other property. The Central Bank believes that such transactions should be permitted only with respect to tokens issued in order to attract financing. The Ministry of Finance supports a complete ban on the use of crypto-currency as a means of payment in the territory of the Russian Federation, the ministry stressed.. Crypto currency can be exchanged for other assets only through the accounts of special exchange operators of digital financial assets (exchanges). Thus, in fact, the crypto currency can become "property in electronic form".

The Finance Ministry noted that the ban on transactions with them would only create conditions for the use of crypto currency illegally. In October 2017 g. Russian President Vladimir Putin instructed the Ministry of Finance, the government and the Central Bank to draft a bill on crypto-currencies. In February 2018. the document must be submitted to the State Duma.

Experts in Russia and abroad say a lot about the fact that the turnover of crypto-currency is fraught with huge risks. Head of InfoWatch Natalia Kaspersky said recently that bitcoin is a dangerous technology, as it can be used uncontrolled for illegal transactions and has all the signs of a financial pyramid. The expert noted that bitcoin has three significant differences, the main one being the lack of control over its transactions, which makes it a means to pay for drugs, prostitution, pedophilia or murders.