The Russian bill requires that the deputies declare their investments in cryptocurrencies.

The draft law for the regulation of cryptocurrencies in Russia submitted by the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank requires that the deputies of the Duma declare their investments in cryptocurrencies. Currently, government officials are not required to declare their cryptocurrencies, according to a recent announcement by the Russian Ministry of Labor.

The chairman of the Committee of the State Duma on Financial Markets, Anatoly Aksakov, explained last week that Russian officials should declare their holdings of cryptocurrencies under the bill recently introduced by the central bank and the ministry of finance.

In this bill, which is expected to be ready in February, the Ministry of Finance proposed treating the cryptocurrency as "another property".

In an interview with Gazeta, Aksakov revealed that if the bill is adopted, "officials will be forced to indicate their cryptocurrencies in their income statements," the media reported. "This will happen automatically with the adoption of the law on the definition of cryptocurrency," he added, noting:

"If the law prescribes that this cryptocurrency is property, then any property of a deputy of the State Duma must be declared."

Although Aksakov states that he does not have any token or cryptocurrency, so the law will not affect him personally, he believes that "it is in the interest of the state to justify the rules that define the cryptocurrency as property."

Russia is not the only country that presents legislation that requires legislators to declare their cryptocurrencies. Earlier this week, it was reported that a South Korean lawmaker introduced a bill to require government officials to declare their cryptocurrency possessions. In August 2016, three Ukrainian lawmakers declared that their bitcoin holdings were worth $ 47 million.

Earlier this month, the Russian Ministry of Labor announced that state employees do not have to declare their holdings in cryptocurrencies. The income declaration form "does not include the indication of goods, services received in kind, or virtual currencies," Tass quoted a document on the ministry's website. This is the first time the cryptocurrency is mentioned in "the updated recommendations on the income statement of the officials," Izvestia described.

Aksakov told Gazeta that there are two bills. The first establishes the regulatory framework for cryptocurrencies, initial offers of currencies (ICO) and cryptography. The second regulates crowdfunding. It includes procedures that "should be implemented in the case, for example, of the bankruptcy of an organization that issued cards to attract investments for the implementation of a project."

The Ministry of Finance is also working on a bill to legalize the trade of cryptocurrencies in approved bags. Commenting on whether the ministry of finance or the central bank will finally support the cryptocurrency trade in exchanges, Aksakov revealed:

"The central bank is very cautious about this, but I think we will follow a path faster than the Central Bank expected. As there is a phenomenon, it is unlikely that we will prohibit it. And if we do not solve it, we will take people to criminal activities. "