In October, the Russian parliament rejected a cryptocurrency bill allowing mining in the country on the grounds of improper framing of the regulation and termed it ambiguous; another draft of the bill was expected to be proposed soon.
Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Financial Market Committee at the State Duma, which is the lower house of Russia’s bicameral legislature, in a recent interview, commented on the new proposal in process. He said that the latest proposal aims to allow the mining of all cryptocurrencies and comprehensively regulate them.
There have been continuous discussions and debates on the regulations and framework for crypto and related activities in the country; however, the majority seem to favor legalizing mining. Earlier this year, Russia announced its intention to allow cryptocurrency mining in areas with rich power supplies legally.
In Europe, the EU committee that passed the Market in Crypto Assets (MiCa) bill also proposed a ban on mining proof-of-work cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin but was rejected by the parliament. The European Central Bank also stated its preference for proof-of-stake (PoS) mining over proof-of-work (PoW), as reported by Todayq.
Aksakov also explicitly stated that the circulation of the coins mined should take place outside the jurisdiction of Russian authority; however, he suggested a draft of the law allowing the legal use of digital assets to be coming soon. Under the framework, cryptocurrencies would be accepted as a legalized payment method for parallel products.
Many Moscow-based institutions, including the central bank, are currently not in favor of cryptocurrency for payments, pointing to it as a potential threat to the Russian ruble, which is the only legal tender in the country. However, recent geopolitical escalations due to the war in Ukraine have led Russian policymakers to consider using crypto for cross-border payments.
Further, Aksakov also stated that the draft of the bill would specify regulatory terms and include aspects of the existing legislation, but discussions are yet to be finalized on the taxation aspects, along with sheer transparency in the coming times.