Key takeaways:
- By January, Russia may have passed a bill legalising cryptocurrency mining and the sale of mined cryptocurrency.
- The senior legislator made it clear that more authorizations are needed for the current bill. He has already played a significant role in the regulation of the bitcoin sector in Russia.
According to a recent news article by TASS, Russia’s bill to legalise cryptocurrency mining and the selling of extracted cryptocurrency may be adopted by January 2023.
The measure was presented to the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, on November 17. The law would pass all three legislative readings, according to Anatoly Aksakov, the chairman of the State Duma’s Financial Market Committee, at the time.
“I won’t mention the groups that slowed down the bill’s progress. In addition, the bill’s detractors claim that it would open up new pathways for capital flight out of our nation. Although the activity will ostensibly involve purchasing cryptocurrencies, the major goal is actually going to be the capital flight out of our nation.
That danger most likely exists. I’ll speak with these critics in person and urge us to come to a conclusion, “added the congressman.
Aksakov acknowledged that the risks of capital flight are real, and he will work with the opponents to change the legislation.
If the crypto mining bill in Russia is approved, Russians would be able to mine cryptocurrencies lawfully. measure would allow Russian miners to sell the cryptocurrency they have mined on international marketplaces.
All year long, Russian government bodies have discussed expanding the nation’s broader legal system to cover cryptocurrency-related transactions. While the majority of Russian authorities oppose allowing the free movement of bitcoin and other digital currencies within the country, their usage for cross-border payments in the face of financial constraints brought on by the crisis in Ukraine has earned widespread favour. The mining industry has been impacted by penalties as well.
The monetary authority, however, opposed allowing Russians to sell crypto assets they had mined domestically. Aksakov remained confident that the mining measure could be changed to adequately satisfy critics’ concerns. He added that it might be prepared for approval in January 2023 as well.
But he said that the bill might be delayed if a compromise with the opponents wasn’t achieved by the end of the following month. According to a Kommersant story, Russian distributors of crypto mining hardware have raised their demand for application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) chips.
However, Russia has made advances in the field of cryptocurrency. The biggest bank in Russia, Sber, just upgraded its support for the bitcoin wallet MetaMask. The implementation of blockchain technology by the bank indicates advancements with DeFi and Web3.
