The recognition of crypto mining will also allow the government to officially tax miners, a State Duma official said.
Russia is likely to see the cryptocurrency mining industry regulated under the country’s broader local business laws if an initiative by lawmakers wins legislative approval, the news agency reported TASS.
The decision to recognize cryptocurrency mining as a sector of entrepreneurship in the country was revealed by Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma financial markets committee in the Federal Assembly.
According to Aksakov, cryptocurrency mining is “a type of entrepreneurial activity”, which, according to Aksakov, must be added to the country’s business register. Once this is done, the Duma official says that it should be properly regulated under the law and be added to the tax bracket.
In this regard, the legislator noted that several bills on crypto mining, taxation and the issuance of digital assets are being developed and will soon be debated.
The official also stressed the need for regulatory clarification regarding the use of the term digital currency. He suggested that a clear distinction be made between cryptocurrencies and digital currencies of central banks. But most often the term “digital currency” is used with reference to cryptocurrencies.
According to the State Duma executive, a digital currency is indeed a financial instrument and not the commonly used meaning of money. As such, digital currencies are targeted as investment instruments and not “as a means of payment “, said Mr. Aksakov in comments published by the agency TASS.
These comments come a few months after Russia introduced a regulatory framework on cryptocurrencies that specifies the use of digital financial instruments. According to the legal document, cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin (BTC) are not considered as means of payment.
The country also made it clear recently that it does not plan to adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, a decision that this week was etched in history by El Salvador.
