The Ministry of Finance did not see the risk of discount in the prices of crypto in Russia

There will be no problems with the discount of crypto prices in Russia compared to world markets after the launch of cryptocurrency trading, since liquidity will flow to the Russian market from foreign platforms. This opinion was expressed by Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov in a conversation with RBC Investments on the sidelines of the Moscow Financial Forum.

“I think not, [the price discount will not arise].” I think that international platforms will also be connected to us. It is clear that the market may be slightly different, but in general we expect that there will be an overflow of liquidity. Accordingly, if there is an arbitration, it will be closed, said Chebeskov.

He added that as part of the work on the bill on the regulation of cryptocurrencies, international exchanges showed interest in it. “They did not want to participate directly because of certain risks and so on. But as liquidity providers, I think they will participate. Therefore, liquidity will still flow in one way or another, which will ensure the same prices, said Chebeskov.

The deputy minister also believes that it is too early to talk about the risk of disparate pools of liquidity. Earlier, market participants pointed out that there is such a risk, since several digital depositories can be created within the framework of the adopted law. In particular, Sergey Shvetsov, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Moscow Exchange, said that if 12, 14, 25 liquidity centers appear within the exchanges, we will not have liquidity.

Plans to create digital depositories were announced by Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, T-Bank and Finam.

“We have to see how it works. Of course, you can speculate that something will be blurred, or maybe not blurred. Professional participants in the securities market know how to work with liquidity. They understand how to move it from one pool to another, so it seems premature to say now that there will be no liquidity. And if there is no overflow, then there will be players who will start making money on it and combine it into liquidity. Therefore, these are issues that require working out in practice, said Ivan Chebeskov in a conversation with RBC Investments.

Earlier, brokers and market participants expressed concerns about the emergence of a discount to world prices in cryptocurrency quotes, which will begin to circulate in Russia in a legal field. Among the reasons for this, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market Anatoly Aksakov, in a conversation with RBC Investments, called sanctions pressure and the risks of blocking cryptocurrency when entering foreign markets.

From September 1, the law “On Digital Currency and Digital Rights” will gradually come into force in Russia. It defines the rules for the circulation of digital currencies and allows qualified and unqualified investors, albeit with a number of restrictions, to legally invest in crypto assets admitted to the Russian market. The Moscow Exchange will be technically ready to launch cryptocurrency trading by December 1.