Russia’s crypto bill may let qualified investors access foreign stablecoins like USDT and USDC

Russia’s State Duma has reportedly added an amendment that would let qualified investors access foreign stablecoins through Russian infrastructure, according to Interfax citing a source familiar with the draft. For PSPs and crypto infrastructure players, the detail that matters is simple: the bill is no longer treating stablecoins as a neat fit for the first-draft definition of digital currency.

1. In the first-reading version of the bill, a digital currency is an asset that has no obligated party toward token holders. That definition creates a problem for stablecoins, because issuers such as Tether Limited for USDT and Circle for USDC take on obligations to maintain the token’s value and redeem it.
2. To deal with that, the second-reading draft reportedly adds two new concepts: a foreign digital instrument and a non-deliverable foreign digital instrument. Interfax says the foreign digital instrument is defined as property in the form of obligatory and other rights placed under foreign law in a foreign information system.
3. Foreign securities are explicitly excluded from that category. A non-deliverable foreign digital instrument is described as one that certifies only monetary claims and provides for settlement without delivery of the underlying asset.
4. According to the source cited by Interfax, foreign backed stablecoins currently fall under the definition of a non-deliverable foreign asset. Holders can demand redemption for cash at face value, the stablecoin is not treated as a security, and redemption does not require delivery of the underlying asset.
5. In June, the Bank of Russia published a report on stablecoins and classified foreign backed stablecoins as foreign digital rights rather than cryptocurrencies. It also said USDT and USDC account for about 89% of the global stablecoin market and are widely used in cross-border payments because of speed and relatively low transfer costs.

The broader crypto bill passed its first reading in the State Duma in April. It would allow Russian residents to legally buy cryptocurrencies through licensed intermediaries such as exchanges and brokers, while a separate bill on illegal crypto circulation would introduce fines of up to 1 mln rubles and prison terms of up to seven years.