The State Duma tightens control: banks will get the right to block suspicious crypto transfers
The State Duma Committee on the Financial Market has presented an updated version of the bill "On Digital Currency and Digital Rights" for the second reading. The key change is the abandonment of strict registries in favor of a more flexible, but potentially more repressive, mechanism for blocking cryptocurrency transfers.
Initially, the document proposed maintaining two lists: the first for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs organizing illegal cryptocurrency turnover, and the second for foreign payment providers servicing them. Now both registries have been abolished. Instead, the concept of an "unauthorized recipient" is introduced.
The essence is as follows: if a bank suspects that the recipient of funds is engaged in organizing the circulation of digital currencies without the appropriate status in the Russian Federation, it has the right to block the transfer. The law does not establish criteria for "suspiciousness" — each financial institution develops them independently in its internal documents. This opens a wide field for subjective decisions.
New Logic: Subjective Assessment Instead of Transparent Lists
Banks will transmit information about "unauthorized recipients" to the Central Bank. In response, the regulator will only be able to provide data on foreign payment providers servicing their transfers. Publication of this information is not provided for, creating risks for legal certainty among market participants.
The obligation to refuse transfers is placed on credit institutions, branches of foreign banks, and payment card issuers. Payment agents, telecom operators, and digital ruble operators are excluded from the mechanism. The bank is obliged to immediately notify the client of the refusal, but the procedure for notifying the "unauthorized recipient" themselves and the mechanism for challenging the blocking are absent from the document.
There are only three exceptions to the rule: the transaction is related to a foreign trade contract, a transfer on behalf of an organization exchanging digital currency, or a transaction by a broker/trustee with permission from the Central Bank.
The State Duma plans to consider the bill in the second reading on July 21. First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Vladimir Chistyukhin previously set the date for the regulation to take effect as September 1.
My analysis: This approach is a classic example of "regulation through uncertainty." The absence of clear criteria for suspiciousness and an appeal mechanism creates grounds for abuse and could paralyze legal crypto operations. The market should prepare for a period of turbulence as banks develop their own blocking practices.