According to the national news service RIA Novosti on 16 January, Mikhail Mishustin - who was confirmed today as Prime Minister - noted several key priorities for his work and outlined the need for institutional reforms in Russia.
Mishustin issued a statement after the government and former Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev announced his resignation. This decision was taken in connection with Russia's President Vladimir Putin's message to the Federal Assembly, in which he outlined a number of fundamental changes to the country's constitution.
The largest Russian companies, including some in which the state has a significant stake, are beginning to test and apply blockchain technology in various aspects of their operations.
In December last year, Russia's national power grid operator Rosetti began testing a blockchain solution for payments in the electricity retail sector in order to automate and increase the transparency of transactions between energy producers, suppliers and consumers.
In November last year, Russia's largest state-owned bank, Sberbank, pioneered blockchain solutions for repurchase agreements. The bank received a patent for this solution, which uses smart contract technology to automate repo transactions between the parties.
However, digital currencies still do not have a solid legal basis in Russia. Numerous attempts have been made in recent years to legally define currency crypto. At different times Russian legislators have been called upon to introduce the regulatory framework by President Putin (twice), the local Supreme Court of Arbitration and the Working Group on Financial Matters.
The Russian Anti-Money Laundering Commission. In May 2018, the Russian parliament passed a draft crypto law 'On digital financial assets', which, however, was soon referred back to the first reading due to the lack of definition of key terms such as crypto extraction, cryptographic currencies and tokens.
