The country has had an interesting relationship with cryptos so far. Now it seems that Russian will finally embrace digital currencies – in its own way.
Miner Haven
After China banned pretty much everything that has to do with “uncontrolled” cryptos, crypto miners fled the country. Many of them ended up in Russia, where they were welcomed with a lopsided hospitality. On one hand the lawmakers created the necessary regulations to create a safe legal environment for the miners. However, the lawmakers banned using crypto in everyday life.
Now with the financial and other sanctions in place against the country Russia needs to find a way out of this situation.
It might not be a solution for its financial problems, but the Russian government is eyeing crypto as a possible tax source. The Federal Assembly of Russia, or as the locals call it, the State Duma, started working on a new regulation. It will create an official Russian crypto exchange and bring all cryptocurrencies under the government’s control.
When the draft is ready it will be submitted to be discussed further by the government and the Bank of Russia. The “Digital Financial Assets” law legalizes digital currencies in the country and will make them taxable and controllable by the government.
Sergey Altukhov, a member of the Economic Policy Committee commented on the development of the new law:
“It makes no sense to say that cryptocurrencies do not exist, but the problem is that it circulates in a large stream outside of government regulation. These are billions of rubles of lost budget revenues in the form of taxes.”
Embraced With Claws
It is without question that the new law will create an unpleasant if not outright hostile environment for the digital currencies. With the cash reserves depleted, the country will seize every opportunity to collect taxes no matter the form.
There were also hints that the Bank of Russia is working on a draft together with the Finance Ministry. They are drafting a law which will create a more strict regulation for crypto miners.
This content was originally published here.
