This week, the Russian Ministry of Finance initiated a proposal to export cryptocurrencies obtained through mining. The bill on control over the mining of digital currencies could come into force as early as 2024. Experts from the Russian Federation expressed their opinion on potential supervision.
StormGain trading platform expert Dmitry Noskov noted: “most likely, this is purely theoretical reasoning and only one of the legislative initiatives, of which there are many.”. The specialist emphasized that the cryptocurrency market and their mining are not yet regulated in Russia, although conversations about this have been going on for a long time. The bill has been discussed for many months and is being considered by the State Duma.
Despite statements that the new document will “work” in 2024, this, according to Noskov, is premature. It is unlikely to be adopted earlier than 2025.
CommEX Regional Director for the CIS and Russia Anton Toroptsev assured that a regulatory framework for mining is necessary. Russia is one of the largest countries in the world in terms of capacity. This was achieved thanks to cheap electricity and suitable climatic conditions.
“Some provisions of the bill cause skepticism,” the specialist said. He noted that the wording itself—“export of cryptocurrencies”—suggests the idea that “legislators” do not fully understand the “supranational nature” of cryptocurrencies and mining in particular.
According to Toroptsev, the export of cryptocurrencies is not similar to a similar procedure for physical goods, and most miners have long been registered on foreign crypto exchanges and trading platforms, where they sell coins mined in the Russian Federation.
According to the expert, it is not clear how the sale of coins mined in Russia will be monitored. At the same time, miners will be required to independently notify the Federal Tax Service about the sale of digital assets. As a result, the honest ones will do this, and the dishonest ones will try to hide “how much they mined.” This does not create a favorable atmosphere for the development of the industry. According to Toroptsev, the way to regulate cryptocurrency mining, which looks more feasible, is licensing enterprises and increasing the cost of electricity for such data centers.