Russia has been becoming progressive in crypto mining off-lately. Initially, the country planned to ban crypto mining but later decided to call it off.
Recently, the Russian Ministry of Finance has said that the country’s mining legislation bill has hit a last-minute obstacle, and the draft law progress has now been “stalled.”
Sources reveal that Alexei Moiseev, the deputy finance minister in Russia, informed the media that the long-awaited bill which seeks to legalize and tax industrial crypto mining had hit another obstacle. However, the lawmaker broadly agreed with the bill, and they had hoped to speed its progress through the Russian parliament in December.
Notably, some had even enthusiastically and optimistically hoped for the law to come into force as early as January 1, but it was then pushed back to February 1. While most of the MPs have backed the bill, which they opined would help the much-needed treasury gain funds, the Central Bank has appeared less eager to approve.
Moiseev said:
We have stalled again. There are objections, now not only from the Central Bank but also from law enforcement agencies, too. A number of meetings are planned on this matter. It’s not that everyone has given up. We hope to reach an agreement.
Anatoly Aksakov, the chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market and the bill’s chief architect, revealed that one of the participants involved in the discussion had raised late objections.
He further said that the central bank wants miners to sell their holdings immediately after they are acquired and does not want “private cryptocurrencies” like Bitcoin to “enter the Russian economy.”
Reportedly, sources reveal that the police or other law enforcement agencies are opposed to this idea and are worried that such a system would be open to easy abuse.
Aksakov also said that a participant in the discussion suspected that the sale channels used by crypto miners could be used to withdraw funds abroad illegally. However, the financial committee chief said he would not point out the organization that has halted the bill’s progress.
He also said that the organization was concerned that crypto miners would eventually drain capital from the Russian territory.
The bill states that miners can exchange their coins for fiat on “foreign crypto exchanges” or via an experimental state-run crypto trading platform. This platform would require it to be legalized in a separate bill.
Notably, the Russian central bank has been very cold towards cryptocurrencies and mining activities since the start. In December the bank wanted to introduce a ban on local crypto miners who sell coins to locals– continuing to take an exceedingly unfavorable position against cryptocurrencies.