4 Oct 2022 14:06

State Duma committee intends to reject draft bill on cryptocurrency mining - source

MOSCOW. Oct 4 (Interfax) - The State Duma Committee on Financial Market plans to recommend that the parliament reject the bill on cryptocurrency mining introduced by deputies at Tuesday's meeting, a source in the committee told Interfax.

He said the recommendation to reject the bill is contained in the conclusion prepared for the meeting of the committee on Tuesday.

The bill in question is "On Mining in Russia" (N127303-8), which was submitted to the parliament by representatives of the New People faction. The document prescribes the basics of regulation of cryptocurrency mining in the domestic jurisdiction, but without specifying the procedure of taxation, requirements for data centers and mining operators.

According to the committee, as stated in the conclusion, the bill provides for the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in the Russian Federation, which is prohibited by the Constitution (it states that the monetary unit in Russia is the ruble, and the introduction and issue of other money is not allowed).

According to the committee's conclusion, the bill provides for the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment in Russia, which is prohibited by the Constitution (which states that the monetary unit in Russia is the ruble, and the introduction and issue of other money is not allowed).

In addition, according to the committee, the submitted document lacks a systematic approach to the regulation of mining and digital currencies. For example, the OKVED list does not currently contain a type of activity such as "mining of cryptocurrencies," and the bill does not provide for relevant changes. There are no answers to the questions of how the state registration of miners as individual entrepreneurs will be carried out, how miners and their equipment will be registered, and how individuals who mine cryptocurrencies without registration as individual entrepreneurs will be identified.

The committee believes that the bill is fragmentary and clearly insufficient and does not meet the requirements of completeness, certainty and unambiguity of legislation.

It was reported earlier that the Finance Ministry is preparing its own version of amendments to the legislation that regulates cryptocurrency mining.