Experts talk about the strengths and weaknesses of the law on regulating cryptocurrencies
The relevant Committee of the Federation Council on Budget and Financial Markets supported and recommended for adoption in the Upper House of Parliament a law that legalizes cryptocurrency mining activities in Russia. Senators are expected to consider it on August 2. The law was created by a group of deputies headed by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets Anatoly Aksakov.
The day before, the State Duma approved regulations legalizing mining in Russia and allowing the use of cryptocurrencies in settlements with other countries. Digital coins can now be mined by individual entrepreneurs included in a special register, as well as ordinary Russians, subject to electricity consumption limits. All miners will be required to provide information about cryptocurrency to authorized bodies. At the same time, advertising digital coins and methods of their extraction is prohibited, so that unprepared citizens do not fall into the clutches of scammers. According to BitRiver analysts, introducing the mining industry into the legal field has a number of positive effects for the country's economy: increased investment in fixed assets, creation of new jobs, increased tax revenues to the budget…
However, some analysts also point to possible negative consequences that may arise due to mining regulation. “Weaknesses may include the potential for an increase in the country’s energy burden and possible problems with regulation and control of miners’ activities,” said Anton Meltsov, founder of the company Insurance Broker AMsec24.
As Tehnobit Executive Director Alexander Peresichan noted, previously the legislation did not include the concepts of mining or mining pool operator, which is why cryptocurrency miners had difficulties with legalizing income received from selling mined coins. Now an important step has been taken towards legalization, although the adopted law will require additional amendments regarding taxation and accounting. But the law has several controversial points that even the miners themselves did not like. Firstly, it stipulates the possibility of introducing a ban on mining in certain subjects of the Russian Federation by decision of the government. This is done so that mining enterprises do not overload the power supply system of certain regions. But miners fear that this may affect the most popular territories among miners — the Irkutsk Region, Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, where the lowest cost of electricity.
Secondly, according to the adopted law, miners will have to report on the amount of mined cryptocurrency, its storage addresses, and ensure that it is not used for money laundering or terrorist financing. It turns out that miners will be required to check to whom they sell coins and how these coins are then used. This is associated with a more complicated process for selling mined cryptocurrencies. Perhaps, mining companies will be forced to hire specialized specialists to conduct a thorough check of purchase and sale transactions. If large miners can do this, then small and medium-sized market participants may face a sharp increase in production costs. And what will happen if the buyer of the coins turns out to be unscrupulous? There is no answer yet. It is also unclear how a miner will be able to report on the sale of cryptocurrency on foreign platforms, because most of the coins mined in Russia are now sold on over-the-counter platforms abroad, Peresichan noted.
An important question is how the legalization of mining will affect the lives of Russians. «The new law can affect the lives of those who are engaged in mining or use cryptocurrency, it can create new jobs and contribute to the development of the economy,» Meltsov believes. According to Peresichan, little will change for ordinary citizens. They are not supposed to be allowed to trade cryptocurrency, which is planned to be launched under the control of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation from September 1: only qualified investors will be there, and not all, but a limited number. It is possible that the list of such investors will be kept secret in order to exclude sanctions pressure on them.