Investing.com - Prices of the major cryptocurrencies were mixed on Monday morning in Asia, with Bitcoin gaining slightly. Important news over the weekend included Finland passing a law to regulate crypto service providers.
Bitcoin gained 1.36% to $5,309.4 by 12:02 AM ET (04:02 AM GMT). Despite the little gain this morning, the digital coin is further away from the $5,400 level.
XRP added 0.36% to $0.29943, while Ethereum shed 0.26% to $158.71 and Litecoin lost 2.83% to $70.182.
The total market cap remained flat at $171 billion.
The Finnish Financial Supervisory Authority (Fin-FSA), the country’s financial market regulator, said on Friday that the president has approved the Act on Virtual Currency Providers, which will come into effect on May 1.
“The Act on Virtual Currency Providers enters into force on 1 May. In accordance with the act, the Financial Supervisory Authority will act as the registration authority and supervisory authority for virtual currency providers,” said the Fin-FSA.
The crypto service providers include crypto exchanges, custodian wallet providers and issuers of cryptocurrencies.
These providers are required to comply with statutory requirements. They must be reliable and able to hold and protect client money, while segregating the clients’ money from their own funds and complying with regulations on anti-money laundering and combating the financing of terrorism.
Separately, Russia is preparing to test cryptocurrencies in four of its regions. Regulatory sandboxes will be created in Moscow, Perm Krai, Kaluga Oblast and Kaliningrad Oblast to test innovative technologies.
A bill has been drafted by the Economy ministry to set up a monitoring mechanism. The special economic zones will allow companies, entrepreneurs and authorities to experiment with cryptocurrencies without breaking the federal law.
Savva Shipov, Deputy Minister of Economic Development of Russia, said this is not just about blockchain and cryptocurrency, but also neurotechnology, artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, robotics and virtual reality.
Russia is keen to embrace new technologies faster. Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered to adopt the bills regulating cryptocurrency before July 1 this year.