Cryptocurrency mining in Russia can be officially recognized. Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, one of the authors of the document, told socialbites.ca that the draft law on the subject was prepared in the State Duma.
“Mining in Russia should be legalized. It needs to be regulated and developed in regions with high electricity. Thus – to return the power capacity.
Thanks to the innovation, the Russian budget will have an additional source of income. Now it does not write anything about mining anywhere. Amendments will be made in the legislation on entrepreneurship activity and taxation. Aksakov said that the draft law will be submitted to the State Duma by the end of the year.
Press services of the Central Bank, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Economic Development did not respond to socialbites.ca’s request.
The Central Bank has previously advocated banning the issuance and circulation of digital assets.
Now the Russian Ministry of Finance is working on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. On April 8, the ministry presented to the government a revised version of the bill “On Digital Currency”. The ministry noted that certain provisions of the document have been clarified, including those related to digital mining.
The Ministry of Finance presented the first version of the law to the government on February 21. The document stated that the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in Russia will still be prohibited. Digital currencies will be considered as an investment vehicle. Transactions related to the purchase or sale of cryptocurrencies will only be possible for identified customers. Deposits and withdrawals of cryptocurrencies from a customer to an operator and vice versa can only be made through banks using a bank account.
“It is advisable to consider the issue of mining regulation together with the regulation of turnover of virtual assets “in one package”, Aksakov told Gazeta.ru in the press service of Rosfinmonitoring.
Why is a mining permit good?
Yuri Pripachkin, President of the Russian Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Association, described the legalization of mining as “an urgent need of the industry”.
“It is especially necessary to establish as friendly relations as possible between the state and industry, which, under the conditions of sanctions, can provide the Russian economy with billions of US dollars in the shortest possible time, without significant investments and preferences. budget.
In 2021, the income of unspecified Russian miners was at least $ 4 billion and provided thousands of Russians with jobs. The uniform load guaranteed by miners, especially in remote energy surplus areas, will enable electricity tariffs to be optimized for populations and businesses across the country.
This will provide an additional incentive for the development of small and medium-sized enterprises. “Home mining” does not require a separate arrangement. Pripachkin, the problem of overloading electrical networks has already been quite successfully solved through differentiated tariffs for electricity.
Likewise, according to the expert, it is unnecessary to legally define surplus zones where mining is allowed.
“The energy industry can independently regulate the location of mining farms with electricity tariffs,” said Pripachkin.
The bill was also supported by Chen Limin, CFO of the ICB Fund and Head of Trade Operations, IT expert Daniil Shepovalov, attorney for DRC law firm Nikita Istomin, and Maria Girich of OECD RANEPA’s Center for Competence and Standards Analysis in Russia. .
“Russia now ranks third in the world for bitcoin mining (11.2 percent of mining, according to the Cambridge Center for Alternative Finance). With the recognition of this activity as entrepreneurial, the legalization of mining and the creation of the OKVED code will allow this area to be removed from the gray zone and additional income to the budget,” he said.
According to him, miners will be able to use existing forms of business activity: starting a company, opening an individual entrepreneur or self-employed. “For taxation, it will be important to specify when the tax has to be paid: when the mining is completed and deposited into the wallet or the digital currency is sold,” Girich said.
clear game rules
Istomin believes that the mining regulation allows the interests of electricity suppliers to be taken into account, who will generate additional income.
“Regions may also be interested in legalization, as miners often place their farms near sources of electricity generation. In these regions, it can be confidently predicted that both direct and related jobs will be created and an increase in budget revenues. “As a capital-intensive industry, it is possible for mining to act as a kind of multiplier for local economies.”
According to Chen, adequate regulation of mining will establish clear rules for business and allow the state to control the space – in other words, everyone will benefit from it.
“The most important thing is that the legalization does not only take into account the interests of the big players who will industrially exploit the excess capacity of nuclear power plants. But there are also interests of “domestic” miners, for whom this is the main way to make money in our difficult times,” Shepovalov said.
“You don’t have to commit to anything”
Aksakov also supported the legislative initiative of the Ministry of Industry and Trade, which mandates the priority use of Russian equipment (if available and commercially available) for cryptocurrency mining in Russia. “Of course I support it,” said the deputy.
Industry representatives, lawyers and economists are against it.
“The basic thesis of this initiative is “if any”. Now we can definitely say about its complete absence. No one needs to be tied to anything. Now is not the time to dictate the terms of the industry. Encourage and promote – this approach should form the basis of the state approach to regulating the industry, ”Pripachkin said.
Chen Limin, CFO and Head of Commerce at ICB Fund agreed. “When it comes to hardware mining, it mainly means mining of cryptocurrencies, mainly bitcoin, ether and a few other coins. Under them, special Asic devices are created, the production of which few companies specialize in. Among them, Bitmain is the biggest player whose innovations are bought instantly by miners and set the tone for the entire industry. Therefore, the recommendation for the priority use of Russian equipment does not make much sense. But if we create some additional incentives for the creation of their counterparts in Russia, similar production facilities may appear in our country. But this will take a long time, ”the expert noted.