Crypto market: More "friendly" regulations are expected in 2018

It is well known that regulations have a crucial role in the permanence of cryptocurrencies for the future. If enough countries decide to take strict prohibition measures, the collapse of the market would be almost imminent. In this sense, we have brought to our readers a recount of the most relevant regulations so far this year.

The city Kiev, which postponed the adoption of cryptoregulations for a time, indicated its decision to follow the examples set by friendly cryptography jurisdictions such as Switzerland, Malta and Gibraltar. That's according to the comments made by Timur Khromaev, head of the National Securities and Exchange Commission (NSSMC).

Ukraine needs a law to become a leader in creating conditions for the development of the crypto market, he said, quoted by local and Russian media. Khromaev also believes that the cryptocurrency is a financial instrument, before anything else, and insists that it should not be seen as a means of payment. This presumption is the cornerstone of the new regulatory concept recently adopted by the Financial Stability Board of Ukraine of which the NSSMC is a member. The senior Ukrainian official also stated:

"We intend to legally recognize cryptocurrencies as financial assets and allow people to invest and use these financial instruments"

The next step, added Khromaev, will be to implement a mechanism for taxation and define the regulatory responsibilities of relevant government institutions. According to the president of the NSSMC, it is expected that the new legislation, which is currently being developed in cooperation with the Ukrainian deputies and representatives of the industry, will be adopted before the end of the year or at the beginning of 2019.

According to Elina Sidorenko, head of the interdepartmental group that assesses the risks associated with cryptocurrencies, crypto-renewed Russian legislation, which "takes into account previous comments, as well as business interests and financial regulators," will be presented in the near future. The new draft will list "the rights, duties and responsibilities of the participants in the cryptography relationships," Sidorenko wrote on his Telegram channel.

In May, a part of the State Duma of Russia, adopted three crypts in first reading:

About digital financial assets
About attracting investments using investment platforms
About digital rights
Then, the deputies tried to synchronize the texts, extracting terms like "digital money" but maintaining legal definitions like "digital financial assets" and "digital rights". The second and third reading of the bills had to take place before July 1, as President Putin had ordered, but they were postponed for the new parliamentary session in September.

Earlier this year, the Latvian authorities announced that they were considering the possibility of recognizing the cryptocurrency as a means of exchange to impose taxes on the capital gains of encryption operations.

Now, according to local media reports, the Riga government wants to achieve this through new legislation and the Latvian Ministry of Finance is preparing a bill that is expected to be ready by December. The bill should determine the taxation procedures applicable to people's income from transactions with virtual money, including cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin.

Alexander Kitchenko, a member of the Bitcoin Foundation of Latvia, revealed details about the proposed tax mechanism in a conversation with the local Baltnews.lv. The authorities, he said, intend to collect data from taxpayers of cryptographic trading platforms. The monitoring will be done at the entrance and exit of the cryptographic space, where corporate entities act as intermediaries for crypto transactions. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will probably be taxed as digital property, the expert explained.

Also, the Budapest authorities are considering and drafting regulations for the encryption sector in Hungary. Representatives of the central bank, the ministry of finance, the tax service and other government institutions have formed a working group in charge of evaluating the legal, economic, security and other aspects of cryptocurrencies, Hungarian media reported.

The Ministry of Finance, cited by the local financial portfolio Portfolio, reminded Hungarians that cryptocurrencies are still not accepted as a legal means of payment in the country. They do not qualify as legal tender, electronic cash, financial instrument or cash equivalent, emphasized the ministry.

However, local encrypted investors are expected to pay taxes on their income from cryptocurrency transactions even under current legislation.

The benefits of the encrypted transactions are classified as "other income" in the tax returns, which means that 15% of taxes must be paid, as well as 22% in the form of health insurance contributions. Legal persons are obliged to pay to the treasury 9% of the income tax and 2% of the corporation tax.

Kazakhstan, the main power of Central Asia that has been wandering for some time between two extremes; prohibiting cryptocurrencies or supporting cryptographic development. This may eventually implement a Belarusian-style solution.

The Astana International Financial Center (AIFC), which was launched with the aim of turning the country into a regional financial center, has presented draft regulations that will place under its control the supervision of cryptos and tokens sales. The National Bank of Kazakhstan has previously requested the ban on encrypted transactions, exchange and business.

In this sense, we can see that there is more interest in providing a friendly regulatory landscape in several nations for the development of crypto, although there will always be exceptions. It would not be extraordinary if, in a month, a country such as China or Japan, which maintains a considerable crypto trade volume, imposes a regulation strong enough to shake the market.

This does not mean that nations regulate just to annoy the ecosystem, in fact, it has nothing to do with it. The countries that opt ​​for this type of legislation are for reasonable reasons, first there is the need to protect citizens from a scam and that they lose their money, and second, the fear that crypto displace conventional banking.

So, in terms of regulations, each country will act according to their needs, it would not be fair to expect all nations to be as friendly as those mentioned above, because precisely each one operates and thinks differently, and each has different priorities .

Source: Bitcoin News