Anatoly Aksakov: Cryptocurrency mining and regulation should be legalized simultaneously

The Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market called for bringing both markets into the legal field at the same time, since the existence of blockchains is impossible without a mining system.

Anatoly Aksakov said that legislation on the regulation of cryptocurrencies should be developed in parallel with the regulations for the extraction of digital assets:

“It seems that the issues of legalizing mining should be addressed simultaneously with the legalization of the circulation of cryptocurrencies, since the existence of a distributed ledger is impossible without a mining system.”

Aksakov assured that the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation has done a great job in preparing the legislative framework in the field of rules for regulating the production of cryptocurrencies:

“It seems reasonable to apply general electricity tariffs to individual miners, since it does not entail the negative consequences inherent in the introduction of preferential or increased tariffs. At the same time, it seems optimal is the proposal not to establish any single quotas for mining at the federal level, but to grant the relevant rights to regional authorities, which are better informed than central authorities about the situation with electricity consumption in a particular territory.

The head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market called for supporting the approach proposed by the Ministry of Finance for qualifying miners as entrepreneurs in case the established energy consumption limit is exceeded.

“In addition, the proposals of the Ministry of Finance on the taxation of mining seem promising. In terms of taxation of profits/income of legal entities, the occurrence of tax consequences is provided, starting from the stage of receiving cryptocurrency as a result of mining, and for individuals – only at the stage of disposal of the received cryptocurrency. At the same time, it is supposed not to introduce VAT in relation to mining.”

Recently, Aksakov announced that the draft law on the mining of digital assets, agreed by the regulators, will soon be submitted to the State Duma of the Russian Federation.