Russia allows Bitcoin mining companies to sell Bitcoin as an “export item”
The government agencies in Russia created a new concept to legalize cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation with proper clarity for Bitcoin mining companies.
Russia is a very hub for crypto Investors but unfortunately, not all the government agencies of this country favour crypto adoption. In Jan 2021, Russia introduced its crypto regulatory framework but that bill was very short & not covering the whole sector regulation. In Dec 2021, the Russian central bank proposed a plan to ban cryptocurrencies fully from the country but later In March 2022 Russia vs Ukraine conflict changed the entire sentiments around cryptocurrencies.
On 13 Dec 2023, Russian local media reports confirmed that the Russian finance ministry developed a new concept under which they labelled Cryptocurrency as an export product, just like Gas.
Reportedly Ivan Chebeskov, Deputy Minister of Finance, said that under a new bill, all the cryptocurrency mining firms will be allowed to sell their mined cryptocurrencies in the form of export products.
The proposed rules under the bill clearly mentioned that the mining companies couldn’t sell their mined cryptocurrencies to Russian citizens.
Minister said:
“We have special legislation for the export of gas, for example. Using such examples, we developed a concept. This will allow miners to export the product of what they have mined – namely, cryptocurrency. It could become an export product. This legislative initiative is (…) being created in Russia.”
In the past, the Russian finance ministry many times proposed new crypto regulation proposals under a new framework but the majority of the time Bank of Russia, country’s central bank, opposed and proposed the concept of a crypto blanket ban just like China’s ban on cryptocurrencies.
Over the last couple of years, the country’s lawmakers proposed & introduced some new rules & laws to regulate the crypto mining activities under the country’s existing crypto regulatory framework.
Some people noted that the Russian government agencies are not trying to give a better situation for this innovative sector to evolve, instead they want to make money in the form of tax from crypto mining companies.
In mid-2022, the majority of Western countries took some restrictive steps against crypto companies, as a part of Russia vs Ukraine conflict, to block any potential probability of money transactions to/from Russia.
In the last couple of years, the majority of the crypto exchanges either suspended their services for Russian customers or terminated some specific crypto accounts related to Russian government agencies, on behalf of the request from the corresponding jurisdictions.
Read also: Coinbase announces project “Diamond” ahead of entry in Abu Dhabi
