Bitcoin Daily: Central Bank In Russia Experimenting With Stablecoins; Germany’s New Crypto Rules Trouble Custodians

The Bank of Russia has been testing stablecoins that are attached to real assets, according to reports.

The head of the bank, which is Russia’s central bank, said just because they’re testing the coins doesn’t mean they will eventually turn into a money substitute.

“We are testing stablecoins in our regulatory ‘sandbox,’” said Elvira Nabiullina. “We see companies willing to issue tokens pegged to certain real assets. In our regulatory sandbox, we are learning the potential uses of stablecoins but we do not assume that they will function as a means of payment and become a surrogate for money.”

The bank is also looking into the potential to issue its own central bank digital currency, which will be called the digital ruble.

Meanwhile, on Jan. 1, Germany will require custodians of cryptocurrencies to be licensed and announce themselves to Germany’s Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin) before April 1. They must also submit an application for a license before Nov. 1, according to a report by Coindesk.

There is a clause that allows for the continuation of services as long as a custodian declares an intent to apply, however.

“As long as the legislation is not in place, BaFin is not going to think about how to cope or how to deal with the legislation,” said BaFin press officer Norbert Pieper. “There is no date foreseeable by which we’ll be able to communicate the results of our assessment. We will certainly communicate that on our website.”

And in France, cryptocurrency firms can now apply for licenses, according to reports. The Autorité des marchés financiers (AMF) released guidelines on how to apply for firms.

Firms in France are known as digital asset service providers (DASPs), and they have to send the AMF a two-year business plan, as well as a list of all the digital assets with which the firm is going to be involved. Also, they need to provide a list of where the firm is going to operate location-wise and an organizational chart of the company.

The firms will need to have indemnity insurance or a minimum amount of reserve funds on hand. As far as staffing, they’ll need a senior manager, IT systems that are resilient, a control system that’s internal, a means to handle claims and an organization that avoids conflicts of interest.

France requires procedures that are proactive against money laundering and other financing for illegal means, like terrorism.