PANews reported on June 25 that, according to Bits.media, Alexei Yakovlev, Director of the Financial Policy Department of the Russian Ministry of Finance, admitted that the government’s bill on cryptocurrency circulation regulation cannot take effect as scheduled by July 1. The bill was originally planned to come into effect on July 1, and is currently ready for its second reading overall, but will be “slightly delayed.” Yakovlev said that the State Duma’s Financial Market Committee will consider the bill “in the coming weeks,” making passage before July 1 impossible. The State Duma already passed the bill’s first reading on April 21. Authorities had previously set July 1 as the effective date multiple times, and the Bank of Russia had planned to adopt relevant detailed rules in the third quarter so that cryptocurrency transactions could be conducted under the new regulations for the first time in the fourth quarter. All crypto operations would be regulated on par with bank transfers, as envisioned by the central bank.