Russian Finance Ministry Revised Its Crypto Sector and Mining Provisions

Vignesh Karunanidhi
Russian Finance Ministry Revised Its Crypto Sector and Mining Provisions
Source: PYMNTS

The Russian Finance Ministry has revised the draft law that was designed to regulate the crypto ecosystem in the country.

The revised draft also includes provisions for crypto mining. The revised bill has been submitted to the government in hopes of adopting it in the next parliament session.

Updated Crypto law for the Russian crypto ecosystem

The Ministry of Finance amended the bill, including comprehensive rules for the crypto ecosystem in Russia. The Ministry of Finance made the announcement on Friday.

The finished digital currency bill has been sent to Moscow cabinet ministers. The bill, which was first introduced to the Russian government in February, proposes to control crypto transactions as well as the activities of crypto market participants in the country.

It was created to fill up the regulatory loopholes left by the passage of the “Digital Financial Assets Act.”

Anatoly Aksakov, the chair of the Financial Market Committee, stated that the new law is likely to come into effect after the spring parliament session. There has been some clarity regarding the provisions pertaining to crypto mining.

There has been some opposition from the Central bank and some officials regarding the acceptance of bitcoin as payment. In contrast, certain Russian officials have recognized the decision to consider crypto mining as an economic activity.

The bank of Russia had supported the idea to put a blanket ban on Crypto activities earlier. Later they threw the idea in the bin as they realized that crypto needs regulation rather than restriction or ban.

The Ministry of Economic Development recommended in February to allow digital currency extraction in areas with a surplus of electricity. It also emphasized the government to provide miners with reasonable electricity rates.

The Ministry of Energy urged for the immediate legalization of bitcoin mining and the implementation of regional energy quotas for bitcoin farms in late March.