Amendments to the Administrative Code of Russia, which government officials made to consider the State Duma, offer to fine for calculations in cryptocurrency and illegal mining, as well as for an “illegal organization of the turnover of digital currency”. Bits.media founder Ivan Tikhonov believes that amendments in their current form can cause great damage to Russian business.

“It has become a tradition when unpopular prohibitions related to cryptocurrencies are pulled into laws, stuffing somewhere deeper into the text of third-party projects. The ban on cryptocurrency payment and advertising of such payment was written in amendments to the law on digital financial assets, which have nothing to do with cryptocurrencies. The lines were screwed into the mining bill right during the consideration that the Central Bank could at any time establish a ban on transactions with cryptocurrency.

And now, in the draft Law No. 159659 from the Ministry of Construction, new norms of working with mobile operators and a ban on “unlawful circulation of cryptocurrencies” are immediately offered – this position can be found in the section on mining, the penultimate paragraph.

What are the consequences of the adoption of these amendments?

The ban will scare away a business that planned to work with cryptocurrencies. He will open in another jurisdiction. There, these businessmen will pay taxes, create jobs, develop infrastructure.

In Russia, the experience of regulating and interaction with crypto projects will cease to accumulate. The rights of persons involved in the circulation of virtual currencies will not be observed in court.

Only businessmen working on legal schemes will follow the ban. Only a white business will refuse to work with cryptocurrency – but this ban will not affect this black.

The wording “The unlawful organization of the circulation of digital currency” has a very wide interpretation, which clearly begins to abuse the ground. For example, the main wallet for bitcoin Bitcoin Core, when working, receives other people’s transactions from the network, checks and sends them further on the network by other wallets. Is this already a turn? That is, the inclusion of such a wallet will violate the law?

The ban will not allow the development of crypto projects within the Russian Federation that could take a significant share of the global market. As a result, the opportunity to promote their interests is lost. Why do everyone comply with the rules of developed jurisdictions, where is the circulation of cryptocurrencies legalized? Because there are the largest services that, in case of non -compliance with the rules, will block crypto acts. And the interests and requirements of jurisdictions that do not have leverage are usually ignored.

The lack of the possibility of legal work contributes to the outflow of highly qualified specialists abroad, where their skills and competencies will be more in demand. As a result, there will be fewer specialists in Russia, and We will be forced to purchase other people’s decisions abroadnot sell your own there.

The prohibition of legal work with cryptocurrencies will spur the use and development of really anonymous cryptocurrencies like Monero or Zano, where it is impossible to trace the sender, recipient and even find out the amount of the amount sent. In the blockchain of widespread cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tron and the like, all this can be seen by any desire.

Despite the negative fleur, Most of the transactions in cryptocurrency are legal. According to Chainalysis, less than 0.34% of all operations is associated with crimes. Banking systems and cash are used by criminals much more often than cryptocurrency. Criminal surroundings are largely a historical heritage and a convenient myth that the media and regulators feed.

The cryptocurrencies themselves from these prohibitions will not disappear anywhere. Only the capabilities of the Russian Federation will disappear in this promising direction of the Fintech. ”