The Bank of Russia believes that cryptocurrencies mined in Russia should be sold only to non-residents on foreign exchanges. However, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation does not support this proposal.
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation generally supports the bill on mining, which provides for restrictions on transactions with mined coins. The regulator insists on the sale of mined cryptocurrencies only to foreigners and only through foreign trading platforms. The Central Bank allows the removal of restrictions within the framework of the experimental legal regime, subject to transactions with cryptocurrencies through a special authorized organization. The Bank of Russia once again reminded that they oppose the free circulation of digital assets in the country.
In mid-November, amendments to the law “On Digital Financial Assets” were submitted to the State Duma for consideration, which should legalize mining in the Russian Federation. If they are adopted in their current form, from February 1, 2023, miners will be able to sell mined crypto assets in two ways: through foreign exchanges or through a special Russian platform created as part of an experimental legal regime. Miners will have to report all transactions to the Federal Tax Service.
The amendments caused a lot of controversy, since the bill does not say that the mined cryptocurrencies should be sold only to non-residents, and there should be only one such authorized organization. Executive Director of RAKIB Alexander Brazhnikov asked himself: “How can miners sell mined cryptocurrencies if foreign exchanges impose sanctions on Russians?” This can lead to problems with electricity bills, and in the worst case, miners can be forcibly disconnected from the power grid.
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation did not support the position of the Bank of Russia. The Ministry of Finance believes that the Central Bank is trying to ban mining, which is carried out outside the “regulatory sandbox”. However, Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma committee on the financial market, is sure that over time the Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank of the Russian Federation will be able to find a compromise, since both of these and other departments are involved in the consideration of the amendments.
A week ago, the Bank of Russia published a document in which it expressed concerns that cryptocurrencies and stablecoins are being introduced quickly enough, and this could be risky for the monetary system.
Source: Bits
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