Experts and participants in the field of cryptocurrency mining spoke about possible ways to introduce mining into the Russian legal framework, as well as about the obstacles and risks of the industry being in a gray zone
In Russia, work continues on legislation in the cryptocurrency mining sector, said Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, in his Telegram channel, commenting on the rating of mining companies that are already operating in the Russian market published by RBC-Crypto.
According to him, due to the fact that this niche has already formed in the market, it needs to be legitimized. “At this stage, we are actively discussing bills on mining, experimental legal regimes (EPR) and taxation of miners. In the autumn session they can undergo the second and third readings,” the deputy noted.
This position is shared by Artem Kiryanov, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy. Any phenomenon that de facto exists must be described from the perspective of law and government regulation, the deputy believes. “Since today we do not have a legislative framework, but there is a process, the Russian budget is missing at least several tens of billions a year. This is what can be received from the industry in the form of tax revenues,” Kiryanov emphasized.
In his opinion, it is necessary to consolidate the concept of cryptocurrency mining, the procedures that companies in this industry must undergo, as well as regulation that will legitimize this activity and provide stable and significant income to the Russian budget.
“Regulators see that cryptocurrency as a mining product does not encroach on the financial sovereignty of the state. This is a niche financial instrument that the state has included in the anti-money laundering legislation system and is successfully learning to cope with threats in this area,” comments Lidings advisor and teacher of the Moscow Digital School educational platform Dmitry Kirillov.
Moscow Digital School conducted a survey among 500 lawyers participating in the Blockchain Lawyer educational program. They identified the uncertainty of the legal status of miners as one of the main problems that Russian miners face due to the lack of special legal regulation, which leads to uncertainty regarding taxation and other legal obligations (76% of respondents).
The second problem of the lack of regulation, 70% of respondents indicated difficulties with miners opening bank accounts, obtaining loans or other financial services. In addition, more than half of the lawyers surveyed noted that the lack of special legal regulation of this industry in Russia makes it difficult to protect the rights and interests of participants in the cryptocurrency mining market.
Specific measures
“The State Duma is already approving a law on mining, which provides for several key aspects,” explains the founder of the BitOK service, Dmitry Machikhin. — First of all, the concept of mining is introduced. In addition, it establishes the status of mining as a regulated and legal activity that is subject to licensing. Accordingly, income received from such activities is subject to taxation.”
Also, according to Machikhin, there is talk about introducing a single mining pool, since it is such a pool that allows control of the industry. “In essence, the industry is already self-regulating. But there is no “hand” of the state in this process in Russia yet,” the expert argues.
Legal entities will be able to engage in mining, which, probably, after the release of the relevant rules, will be required to undergo certification and obtain a license. In addition, concluding direct contracts with Rosseti or resale of electricity will likely be available only to mining companies.
In discussions of mining regulation, the issue of the industry’s negative impact on the Russian energy system is often raised, comments First Deputy General Director for Strategy and Corporate Development at BitRiver Evgeniy Mishuk. This is probably due to an assessment of the regulatory experience of neighboring CIS countries, where often “protective” taxes or additional surcharges on the cost of electricity are established for mining.
“However, it is important that neighboring countries (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan) have a deficit energy balance, so there is simply not enough electricity for mining there,” notes Mishuk. “At the same time, Russia has an energy surplus of 20 GW and can afford to freely stimulate the development of industrial mining as a promising sector of the economy.”
Industrial mining is a professionally organized method of producing cryptocurrencies. The construction of high-power data centers (from 40 MW and above) falls entirely on the shoulders of the company - the operator of industrial mining. One such data center can accommodate over 11 thousand units of mining equipment. This is a high-tech facility with advanced cooling systems, as well as a centralized control system for equipment operation.
Data centers of industrial miners are required to be officially connected to power grids, including going through the procedure of developing an external power supply scheme (EPS). Thanks to this, the reliability of the operation of the power system does not suffer; the connection of devices for mining, according to Mishuk, does not in any way affect other consumers.
Household mining
It is especially important from a regulatory point of view to establish control mechanisms over so-called household mining, as well as rules limiting excess energy consumption, says Dmitry Machikhin. If this is household mining “in supervolumes in dachas, apartments or garages,” this also needs to be monitored and monitored for unauthorized cases of theft of electricity or the use of electricity by infrastructure facilities without appropriate licensing. The theft of electricity is equivalent to theft of physical property, and it should be dealt with accordingly, the expert explains.
Household mining is the independent production of cryptocurrencies by an individual on one to three devices or more, while electrical energy is consumed at regulated and subsidized business rates for the population, explains Mishuk.
“At the first stages, cryptocurrency mining by the population did not significantly affect the energy system due to its insignificant volume. However, due to the high margins of household mining, in which payments for electricity are more than 3 times lower than the tariffs for mining data centers, the popularity of this particular type of mining is growing alarmingly.”
According to the observations of BitRiver analysts, in the Irkutsk region alone, the volume of cross-subsidization is about 6 billion rubles. per year, and in the region itself in the southeast there is an acute shortage of generating and network capacities.
To develop and stimulate industrial mining, BitRiver expects to expand the demand management program, where “bona fide market participants” will participate. According to the company's estimates, this will make it possible to more effectively reduce power shortages in individual energy regions, reduce prices for electrical energy in the region and thereby increase the profitability of such companies.
“Nevertheless, as long as there is no regulation of the mining industry itself, residents of the same Irkutsk region will not easily give up their gray business,” Mishuk is sure. Therefore, the question of introducing this type of activity into the legal field is especially acute. $BTC
