The monetary authority in Moscow has expressed support for the latest legislative attempt to legalize cryptocurrency mining. However, the regulator wants the extracted digital currency to be sold outside the country or only under special legal regimes in Russia, as an exception.
The central bank of the Russian Federation (CBR) “conceptually supports” the draft law seeking to legalise the crypto mining sector, however at the same time maintains that the digital currencies obtained within the method should be largely sold on foreign exchanges and only to non-residents.
In comments for the Russian Interfax news agency, the bank’s press service additional that just in case the coins are exchanged domestically, this should happen exclusively through licensed platforms operational in a very controlled regulatory surroundings. A representative elaborated:
We allow the possibility of lifting such restrictions within the framework of experimental legal regimes, provided that transactions with cryptocurrencies are made through an authorized organization.
The official emphasised that the monetary authority adheres to its position, expressed and reiterated on multiple occasions to this point, that the circulation of cryptocurrency inside the Russian Federation is “inadmissible.”
In Nov, a bunch of lawmakers submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of parliament, a bill designed to manage the mining of currencies like bitcoin and other crypto activities through amendments to the country’s existing law “On Digital financial Assets.”
The draft offers miners the 2 options for the sale of the minted coins referenced by the Bank of Russia. In either case, the Federal Tax Service should be notified about the transactions. Payments through means totally different than the Russian ruble are banned even below current law however amid sanctions the thought of legalizing cross-border crypto settlements has been gaining traction.
However, the filed bill doesn't mention that the mined cryptocurrency ought to be sold-out only to non-residents of Russia and its provisions don't refer to an “authorized organization” for transactions administrated under the special legal regimes within the country.
Finance Ministry Rejects Central Bank’s Latest Position
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Deputy Minister of Finance Alexey Moiseev commented that the CBR has a new position, that in his view amounts to a ban on mining outside the said legal regimes. He said that his department doesn't accept this “total licensing” policy.
For months, the ministry and the bank are tilt over the regulatory treatment of cryptocurrencies in Russia, with the Minfin taking a more liberal stance whereas the monetary authority proposed a blanket ban on related activities, as well as mining and trading.
Despite these persisting differences, the head of the parliamentary financial Market Committee Anatoly Aksakov was quoted as stating earlier this week that he expects lawmakers to pass the new legislation before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, the executive Director of the Russian Association of Cryptoeconomics, AI and Blockchain (Racib), Alexander Brazhnikov, acknowledged that once trying to sell abroad, Russian miners are likely to face restrictions by foreign exchanges. And whereas trading the coins in Russian special regulatory zones is a good idea, their establishment would take at least a year.
(Lubomir Tassev, Bitcoin.com, 2022)