Russian Parliament to Decide on Cryptocurrency Mining Bill Next Week

The State Duma's Financial Markets Committee has recommended that the lower house of the Russian parliament approve a bill to regulate Bitcoin and altcoin mining activities.

The State Duma is reportedly going to vote on the bill during its meeting scheduled on 23 July.

Introduced by MP Anatoly Aksakov, the bill aims to create a structured legal framework for cryptocurrency mining, which is currently in a legal grey area in Russia. This framework will provide clear guidelines for both registered companies and private miners.

According to the draft law, the Russian government, in consultation with the Bank of Russia, will determine the requirements for natural and legal persons engaged in crypto mining, including those involved in mining pools. The Ministry of Digital Development will be tasked with ensuring compliance with these requirements.

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Under the proposed legislation, only registered Russian companies and individual entrepreneurs would be allowed to mine cryptocurrencies.

Private individuals would be able to mine within certain energy consumption limits. The government would also define procedures for maintaining a register of miners through regulations.

The bill also includes measures to regulate the movement of digital currencies to prevent them from being used for money laundering, financing terrorism and other criminal activities.

The bill also prohibits the advertising and distribution of cryptocurrencies. Miners would be required to report their activities and provide address identifiers to a designated government authority. In addition, they would be prohibited from combining mining activities with those related to electricity.

Alexander Stefanov