If the project becomes a law, exchanges and exchangers will have to obtain a special permit from a government agency authorized by the government. Moreover, it will be possible to sell cryptocurrency only to companies and individual entrepreneurs that are included in a special government register of “Mining Infrastructure Operators”.
Any advertising of cryptocurrency trading, if the law is passed, will be banned.
Private individuals will be allowed to mine, but they will have to comply with electricity limits set by the government. Moreover, if the project becomes law, the government will be able to prohibit cryptocurrency mining “in certain subjects of the Federation” at its discretion. Plus, all miners will be required to report all operations (mining, trading) to Rosfinmonitoring.
Moreover, it seems that the State Duma website does not currently have the final version of the bill – the one that will be distributed to all 450 deputies before the vote on July 23. Since the brief summary in conclusion of the committee from July 12 includes wording not found in the latest available full version text
of the bill (published on April 26). According to the summary, cryptocurrency will not be allowed to be sold or exchanged on foreign platforms. While the full text of the bill says: cryptocurrency can be sold or exchanged anywhere, but not on “Russian information infrastructure facilities.”
In fact, any prohibitive laws in Russia will not affect the existence and operation of cryptocurrencies in any way, believes Bits.media founder Ivan Tikhonov. But they will affect the backwardness of the domestic crypto industry. Business will not be able to operate legally, pay taxes, create jobs, since the bill, if adopted, will only expand the black market, over which there is no control. There will be a noticeable increase in the use of truly anonymous cryptocurrencies. And also an even greater outflow of highly qualified specialists abroad.
“There they can be offered high wages, but here we have a prison term. In essence, they are preparing for us a planned technical lag behind other countries,” says Ivan Tikhonov, “the creation of strong competitors from whom we will then be forced to buy technology. And not they from us.”
By adopting this bill, we will effectively implement Western sanctions that directly prohibit Russians from participating in crypto projects, the founder of Bits.media points out: “So it’s worth taking a closer look to see if these initiatives are being promoted by saboteurs and enemies of our state.”
There will be no concessions for miners after the law comes into force, because there is currently no ban on activity. And the bill only provides for mining – with the sale of mined cryptocurrency abroad. It turns out to be something like a simple sale of electricity abroad, concludes the founder of Bits.media.
“Again, we are exporting raw materials, not high-tech products with high added value,” says Ivan Tikhonov. “And take a closer look at the signatures on the documents: what if, suddenly, somehow, people who own shares (not registered in their own names, of course) in hydroelectric power plants, energy supply companies, large mining capacities end up there? This is just my guess, but dig in, it’s not difficult.”
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Source: Bits
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