The largest market player turned to Manturov with an official proposal
Cryptocurrency mining was proposed to be recognized as an industry. The largest player in the market applied to the Ministry of Industry and Trade with such an initiative. The idea was supported by the State Duma Committee on the financial market. The initiative will be included in the bill on regulation of the sphere, which is planned to be adopted in 2023.
Why is it necessary to secure the legal status of cryptocurrency in the country? Oleg Ogienko, the author of the proposal, BitRiver's director for government relations, told MK about this.
If we take the cryptocurrency mining market, then Russia is in second place in terms of bitcoin hashrate (hashrate is an indicator of mining performance, speed). From 13 to 15% of the global hashrate of bitcoin, that is, the computing power of this cryptocurrency, is concentrated in Russia. This is largely a consequence of the competitive advantages that Russia has in industrial mining. President Vladimir Putin spoke about this. According to him, Russia has affordable and predominantly green carbon-free energy resources, trained personnel and a cold climate. All this together gives our country sufficient advantages in competing with other countries in mining.
Meanwhile, the legal status of cryptocurrency in the country is still not really defined. The miners themselves can be divided into legal and so-called gray miners, whose activities affect both ordinary citizens and regional budgets. Cryptocurrency mining is not prohibited in Russia, but there is no legislative framework regulating this type of activity yet.
The head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, Anatoly Aksakov, said that the second and third readings of the bills on mining may take place already in the autumn session , experimental legal regimes and taxation of miners.
“The relevant market must be legalized, since there is a business that is already operating in this area,” said the deputy.
Indeed, mining is now an active and rapidly developing industry in the global market. According to market players, in April the Russian mining industry ranked second in the world, behind only the United States. At the same time, in July, it caught up in growth rates with the American mining industry.
Oleg Ogienko, Director for Government Relations at BitRiver, told MK about the essence of his proposal.
— This will make it possible to take into account its development in strategic planning documents in the field of industry and energy, thanks to this it will be possible to more efficiently and effectively form investment programs for industry entities. Also, the recognition of mining as a separate industry will make it possible to implement the most balanced mechanism for taxing mining activities: from profit at the time of sale of products, that is, when selling the produced cryptocurrency for rubles. In addition, when mining receives the status of an industrial activity, it will help in some cases to qualify for preferential project financing and other preferences, taking into account the balanced growth of the industry.
— Request from the mining market for such recognition has been around for a long time, as this recognition will go a long way towards attracting high-tech institutional investment in industrial mining. We see how energy-intensive computing for the purpose of producing cryptocurrency on an industrial scale is gaining qualitative growth in a number of countries in the Middle East, Asia, and we believe that Russia also has every chance to realize its competitive advantages in industrial mining, giving an additional impetus to the digital economy.
— The prospects for securing this initiative in regulatory legal acts depend on the perception by regulators and the state of the predicted complex impact of industrial mining on the Russian economy and the population as a whole, on the development of the financial sector, information technology, energy and science in particular.