Russia crypto laws have taken a new turn as Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, signed legislation making cryptocurrency mining in the country lawful.
The new law has introduced new legislations pertaining to mining digital currencies, mining pools, address identifiers, operators of mining infrastructure, and those in charge of organizing mining pool activities. Local media reports highlight that the act of mining is acknowledged as a constituent of turnover, rather than the process of issuing virtual currency.
Russia crypto laws to only allow entrepreneurs to mine crypto
The only people who can mine crypto in Russia will be individual entrepreneurs and Russian legal entities listed in a register. Digital currency mining will be permitted for those who do not over the energy consumption thresholds specified by the Russian government. This will allow anyone to mine cryptocurrency without being registered.
The document states that international digital financial assets may be traded on Russian blockchain platforms and that the Bank of Russia reserves the authority to prohibit the listing of specific issues in the event that it determines that doing so would jeopardize the financial stability of Russia.
Russia crypto mining laws come after previous discomfort
Previously, Russia had already thought of outlawing cryptocurrency mining. The Russian Finance Ministry suggested in 2023 that bitcoin circulation be outlawed. Stablecoins and the miners’ sales of coins were exempt from this rule. However, the move was vetoed by the Russia’s secret agency, the FSB, and the investigative committee.
Vladimir Putin signed into law a law governing the transactions of digital financial assets (DFAs) in July 2020, but it had not yet taken effect. The legislation banned utilizing cryptocurrencies as a form of payment for goods and services, but it did allow transactions with them.
Nevertheless, in spite of this, the nation saw a continuous increase in cryptocurrency transactions. According to research, there are a lot of cryptocurrency transactions in the majority of Russian states. In comparison to Saint Petersburg, Moscow had a greater number of businesses in 2021 that accepted cryptocurrency payments through in-store ATMs or other means.
Russia crypto law on cross border transactions
Russia has previously approve a bill that will permit the use of cryptocurrencies for cross-border financial transactions. In the midst of ongoing financial pressure from Western sanctions on the country, Russian parliament approved a new law that permits the use of cryptocurrency for international payments.
The Russian parliament’s lower house, the State Duma, gave the proposed law preliminary approval. It would allow businesses to use cryptocurrencies for cross-border trading.