Russian Finance Ministry Outlines its Vision of Bitcoin Mining Regulation
Russia’s Ministry of Finance has explained how it plans to regulate – and tax – the nation’s crypto mining sector.
Per Izvestia, the ministry explained that parties would only be able to mine Bitcoin (BTC) and crypto if they had previously applied to join a special register of crypto miners – and credit their token earnings to “wallets that are within a framework of Russian software.” This likely means that a list of approved wallet providers will be drawn up, and that miners will be forbidden from using overseas wallets.
The ministry is hopeful of gaining cabinet approval for its bill, which it submitted earlier this week, despite a rival proposal from the Central Bank. The bank has instead proposed a blanket ban on mining. The latter is looking increasingly unlikely, with Russia now facing international sanctions over the Ukraine crisis – while its crypto mining sector continues to grow.
The ministry said it expected the bill to be approved and come into force on January 1, 2023.
Perhaps key for miners is the clause in the bill that pertains to “digital mining” – giving the industry a legal definition and official “business” status.
The terms of the bill, as it stands, see “digital mining” defined as “the acquisition of digital forms of currency.”
It also calls a “mining pool” the “combination of the computing power of several devices designed for digital mining.”
A separate section of the bill is devoted to the regulation of crypto mining, the ministry added. Miners in Russia will be obliged to take the following steps if the bill becomes law:
However, the bill – crucially – states that crypto mining would be assigned an official OKVED number. In Russia, OKVED numbers are classifiers of officially recognized forms of economic
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