Duma deputy Andrei Lugovoy threatened to jail cryptocurrency miners for illegal connections to power grids. This was reported by сообщает «Лента».
He said that if mining is recognised as a legitimate form of activity, electricity-distribution companies should issue permits to connect energy-intensive equipment.
«If [miners] are refused, but they still connect, then they will violate both the administrative and criminal codes. Illegal miners will have to be jailed», — Lugovoy noted.
As an additional regulatory measure, he proposed a profit tax on cryptocurrency mining.
«They produced Bitcoin — then look at the price, calculate how much electricity they used, what other costs they incurred (salaries and other payments). Subtract all this — you get profit», — added he.
In November, representatives from several ministries supported the move to recognise mining as a form of entrepreneurial activity.
The head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, Anatoly Aksakov, proposed to separately spell out the taxation procedure for individuals and legal entities engaged in cryptocurrency mining.
In turn, the Ministry of Energy excluded the application of a preferential tariff for Bitcoin miners. For now, the regions have to push for rate recalculations through the courts.
Earlier, experts calculated that, because of miners, household electricity consumption in several regions of the Russian Federation could increase by 2.5 times this year.
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