The Legal Department of the Russian State Duma has identified issues with a bill regulating mining and introducing a partial ban on cryptocurrency circulation in the country. The document was published by the Telegram channel “Mendeleevshina.”
According to the review, vague wording in the article defining the organization of digital currency circulation is inconsistent with provisions imposing a partial ban on this activity, except for the sale of coins by miners and within the Central Bank’s experimental regimes.
The second issue concerns the mention of an “authorized body designated by the Russian government” to oversee miners’ compliance. However, the bill does not elaborate on this provision, only allowing an unnamed supervisory agency to impose bans on digital currency transactions. It is unclear whether the same or different bodies are being referred to in the two parts.
The department also noted that the title of the bill’s article on the introduction of registries for miners and mining infrastructure operators does not match its content.
In the proposed amendments to the “On Electric Power Industry” law, the authors mention a “ban on digital currency mining” as a decision already made by the Russian government. It is suggested to standardize this phrase.
Following the review, the legal department recommended sending the bill to the Bank of Russia for evaluation. Consequently, the document is unlikely to be considered in the spring session, which ends on August 4.
As reported in April, the current version of the mining bill was submitted to the Russian State Duma at the end of April.
According to its provisions, Russian legal entities and individual entrepreneurs included in the relevant registry will be allowed to engage in cryptocurrency mining. Individuals will be permitted to mine cryptocurrencies without being included in the registry, provided they adhere to government-set energy consumption limits.
The bill requires miners to report mined cryptocurrencies to the tax service, specifying the address of accrual, and grants the government the right to prohibit mining in certain regions.