Russian Bill Would Legalize Crypto Mining, Sales Under 'Experimental Legal Regime'

The bill provides a legal definition of mining and mining pools and would create a national cryptocurrency market in the Russia's latest step to integrate digital assets into its economy.

A bill was introduced in the Russian State Duma, the lower house of parliament, on November 17 that would legalize cryptocurrency mining and the sale of mined cryptocurrency. Cryptocurrency cannot currently be used for settlements in Russia.

The bill reads: "Digital currency obtained as a result of mining may be disposed of by the person who performed the mining of such digital currency provided that the Russian information infrastructure not be used to conduct transactions with it, with the exception of transactions carried out in accordance with the established experimental legal regime", as quoted by Interfax.

Head of the State Duma's Financial Markets Committee Anatoly Aksakov told local media that he expects the bill to pass the three parliamentary readings in December to enter into force on 1 february. Other sources said the bill would become law on January 1. . Aksakov said:

"The passage of the law will bring this activity into the legal realm and will form a law enforcement practice on issues related to the issuance and circulation of digital currencies."

The experimental sale regime is made possible by the Digital Innovation Act passed in 2020. The bill provides definitions of cryptocurrency mining and mining pools. It also prohibits cryptocurrency advertising in Russia.

A Russian platform for selling cryptocurrencies will be set up if the law is passed, and Russian miners will be able to use foreign platforms. In the latter case, Russian currency controls and regulations would not apply to the transactions, but they would have to be reported to the Russian tax service. There is currently no legislation on taxation of mining activities, although crypto mining i...