In a news release following the vote, the Duma said, “These specifications determine that both cryptocurrency and tokens constitute property, identifying key differences between cryptocurrency and tokens on the basis that there is a single issuer (for tokens) or a variety of issuers/ miners (for cryptocurrency), as well as emission goals.” The release went further, stating, “In this document it is directly determined that digital financial assets do not constitute a legal method of payment within the territory of the Russian Federation.”

The Fed is set to meet on May 30 to consider watering down the “Volcker Rule,” in what would be a major deregulatory move. The relaxing of the “Volcker Rule” would allow thousands of banks to make high risk profit-seeking trades with less government oversight. If the Fed’s plans go ahead, increased systemic financial risk could well push citizens to conclude that “cryptocurrencies do a fundamentally better job as a safe depository,” Weiss analysts argue. According to Weiss, banks are lobbying for more freedom to trade speculative assets such as derivatives, whose ownership is “extremely centralized.”