Russian authorities are undergoing the debate on officially recognizing cryptocurrency mining as an entrepreneurial activity. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Energy, and the State Duma want Crypto mining should be legalized and regulated.
The Ministries and the Duma, Russia’s lower house of representatives, want crypto miners to be recognized as entrepreneurs, said a report from Izvestia. However, the Russian central bank does not support this initiative, citing the risks associated with crypto, according to the report from Monday.
According to Local News, the Ministry of Economic Development embarked that levying crypto mining as an entrepreneurial activity will allow the government to regulate it through the Civil Code. However, the Ministry made its point by saying that there are no regulations on crypto mining activities.
Furthermore, the current Law on Digital Financial Assets (DFA) does not incorporate any guidelines for the process of crypto mining. However, it only includes the definition of “issuance of digital currency”. Additionally, the all-Russian classifier of types of economic activities (OKVED) also excludes crypto mining.
“This is exactly the area in which the state can receive its benefits in the form of taxes; and people can legalize their income, big business is also becoming more and more interested in this.”
Aleksey Minaev, Deputy Director of the Digital Economy Development
The Flipside of Russian Government
The Bank of Russia’s perspective towards legalizing crypto mining remains unshakable as it continues to argue its overall conservation stance towards the decentralized industry. The Central Bank highlighted the risks of cryptocurrency turnover in Russia and mocked the industry as a monetary surrogate.
Also, the head of the Duma’s finance committee, Anatoly Aksakov, noted that crypto mining is not banned in Russia. But the rules around taxation are unclear. It is necessary to assign a classifying number to the industry and determine procedures for taxation, he said, according to Izvestia.