Categories: Finance

Sergei Mendeleev: Foreign exchanges will almost certainly be blocked

Sergei Mendeleev: Foreign exchanges will almost certainly be blocked

The State Duma is going to adopt amendments to the law on digital assets in the first reading in December, which actually prohibit the free circulation of cryptocurrency in Russia.

The Duma Committee on the Financial Market on Friday, November 25, completes the acceptance of feedback, suggestions and comments to
bill. Sergey Mendeleev, CEO of Indefi bank, believes that in its current form, the “Aksakov amendments *” will lead to a complete restriction of access to crypto exchanges and exchangers from within Russia.

– Why do you think it was necessary to adopt amendments to the law “On Digital Assets” right now and in this form?

It’s hard for me to say why right now. This looks all the more strange against the background of the fact that literally on the eve of the introduction of a law on a complete ban on the public circulation of cryptocurrencies, people whose signatures are under the project spoke about the need to expand the domestic market. And immediately after the introduction, the neighboring Duma Committee came up with an initiative to create a Russian crypto-exchange – which, obviously, will be impossible if the “Aksakov amendments” are adopted in their current form.

– What exactly threatens Russian exchanges, any trading platforms and crypto exchangers, if the law is adopted? What threatens Russian clients of foreign sites?

– Russian exchanges and exchangers will simply, for obvious reasons, cease to exist. Even before the next logical step is taken – the introduction of criminal liability for violation of the law. Nobody canceled article 171 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation for conducting illegal business activities. Foreign exchanges, most likely, will simply be blocked by Roskomnadzor in the Russian segment of the Internet. But given the fact that now, due to the thoughtless policy of the authorities to block everything and everything, VPN is on the phone of any housewife, I think the blocking will not affect users at all

– What can the obligation of miners to report to the Federal Tax Service lead to? How exactly to understand the wording about providing the Central Bank with a “unique sequence of symbols”? What kind of tax will miners have to pay?

– I think it is better to ask these questions to the deputies themselves. Despite my legal education and fairly deep knowledge of the crypto industry, I don’t know what lies behind these formulations. It is quite obvious that the authors do not even roughly imagine how mining works – and even more so a mining pool. How the Federal Tax Service will handle all this, I can’t even imagine. Especially in the absence of amendments to the Tax Code. Trite: will the mined production VAT be subject to?.. How will the cost of imported equipment, duties, electricity be taken into account? At what rate will income tax be calculated? And so on.

— What is the “experimental legal field” and how will it be applied? How do you think a specially authorized state body to control mining will work? What other regulations should be expected?

– These questions can be answered after the appearance of the pilot bill. So far, it has only been announced, but I do not know a single specialist in the field of crypto who would take any part in the development of the bill – which does not inspire hope for a successful outcome.

– Are you waiting for the mass emigration of miners and crypto-currencies, if the State Duma and the Federation Council are adopted, and the president signs the amendments in their current form?

– No, I’m not waiting. Everyone who wanted to, left long ago. The rest will simply leave the gray zone for the black zone, and that’s it. We have already gone through regulation by prohibition with the casino. And that, began to play less? No, everything just went into underground katrans and the Internet. I personally know a lot of people who play poker in underground casinos in Moscow. It will be exactly the same with crypto. Mining farms will disguise themselves as data centers, and exchangers will move into closed telegram groups. Incomes will only grow, why leave such raspberries?

*Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, is headlining changes to the current law on digital assets. The day after the amendments were made to the parliament, the deputy directly said that a complete ban on the circulation of cryptocurrency should come in the country from February 1.

Source: Bits