Can the updated draft law “On mining in the Russian Federation” meet everyone’s expectations?

Legislators in the Russian Federation are currently trying to make the most complete definition of mining, but so far there is no such concept at the legal level, as well as the fact that the legalization of mining is only being discussed by the government. The good news is that this is the reason why there is no criminal liability for cryptocurrency mining in Russia.

But according to the new draft law “On Mining in the Russian Federation,” mining refers to the activities using Russian information infrastructure facilities, which result in the creation of digital currency. 

For more than five years, deputies of the State Duma have been discussing many issues related to cryptocurrency in the Russian Federation, such as the legalization of mining and transactions, criminal liability for minукы, as well as taxation and ownership rights.  

Deputies from the faction “New People” Anton Tkachev, Sardana Avksentieva, Vladimir Plyakin, and Grigory Shilkin developed a new bill. According to its first version, which was introduced at the end of April 2022, a special state register was supposed to be created, in which the registration of mining participants was required. In turn, only those individuals could take part in mining who had the status of a sole proprietor or self-employed. The next important aspect of the draft bill was that it provided amnesty for participants in the cryptocurrency mining process, which was determined for a period of one year from the date of the law entry into force. The amnesty concerned customs clearing of previously imported mining equipment and declaration of income from mining. 

The original version of the document was withdrawn, and the freshly made version, which appeared in the database of the State Duma on May 20, differs from the starting version in several key points. 

First of all, the section about the register of mining operators was excluded from the draft bill and according to the updated version amnesty for miners is no longer expected.  According to the State Duma’s legal department, this is due primarily to the fact that the combination of amnesty and the creation of a register is more likely to entail additional costs to the federal budget. There are no more significant changes in the new version of the draft law.