The Russian Central Bank and Ministry of Finance are working on a draft law that would allow cryptocurrency exchanges to operate directly between digital currencies, bypassing the ruble. This means that investors could potentially exchange one cryptocurrency for another without first converting it into rubles.
The draft law proposes that the trading participants themselves determine the exchange rate, with some setting the purchase price and others the sale price. This would allow for a more dynamic and market-driven exchange rate, rather than being set by the government or other external factors.
Pronin emphasized that this is a business decision, not a regulatory requirement, leaving it up to individual exchanges whether they want to offer these direct cryptocurrency pairs. The draft law itself is still being finalized for its second reading and proposes limits on unqualified investors while allowing qualified investors to work with digital currencies without restrictions.