Russian authorities stand divided on legalizing Crypto Mining

Russian authorities are undergoing the debate on officially recognizing cryptocurrency mining as an entrepreneurial activity. While the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Energy, and the State Duma are supporting the decision to legalize crypto mining, the country’s Central Bank continues to contend the initiative.

For Crypto Mining Legalization

According to local news, the Ministry of Economic Development noted that levying crypto mining as an entrepreneurial activity will allow the government to regulate it through the Civil Code. The ministry argued that there are still no regulations imposed on crypto mining activities in Russia. Furthermore, the current Law on Digital Financial Assets (DFA) does not incorporate any guidelines for the process of crypto mining, however, it only includes the definition of “issuance of digital currency”. Additionally, the all-Russian classifier of types of economic activities (OKVED) also excludes crypto mining.

With the official recognition of crypto mining as an entrepreneurial activity, the authorities will get the opportunity to rectify these former mistakes and impose taxation policies on them as a result. While the authorities are discussing crypto mining regulations with the private sector, they also emphasized that the crypto mining industry “deserves respect and regulation”. Officials argue that this will be a win-win situation, with the nation’s economy gaining profit from the ever-evolving decentralized industry, and crypto miners will also acquire legal status.

“Recognition of mining as entrepreneurship will allow taxing income from such activities and, accordingly, increase state budget revenues”, local news quoted authorities’ argument favoring crypto mining legalization. “This is exactly the area in which the state can receive its benefits in the form of taxes, and people can legalize their income, big business is also becoming more and more interested in this.”, Aleksey Minaev, Deputy Director of the Digital Economy Development Department of Mineka told local news.

Against Crypto Mining Legalization

The Bank of Russia’s perspective towards legalizing crypto mining remains unshakable as the bank continues to argue its overall conservation stance towards the decentralized industry. The Central Bank highlighted the risks of cryptocurrency turnover in Russia and mocked the industry as a monetary surrogate.

“The Bank of Russia does not support initiatives that contribute to the emergence of monetary surrogates.”, the regulator told local news.