Bitcoin Mining is ready to fall under Russian regulations

A few months ago, there was talk that Russia was really looking to subsidize the costs of mining. However, that seems to have been a ploy to perhaps gain control over the miners and get them to register with the government for more than protection against money laundering.

Bitcoin mining in Russia has operated for a long time in a "gray legal area", thanks to the lack of regulation, as well as cheap electricity, which has made mining operations in the home possible and profitable.

However, with the recent Russian campaign regarding cryptocurrencies, through the ban on access to exchanges, the steel-fist government is also targeting miners.

The repression of Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin called for the regulation of cryptocurrencies at a meeting with senior financial officials on Tuesday, warning of the "serious risks" they entail. The finance ministry proposed allowing mining only for businesses and private companies that would register with the government, to reduce the risk of money laundering.

On the contrary, a report indicated that the government, through the Internet Development Institute (IRI) and the Russian Association of Blockchain and Cryptocurrency (RABIK), had established plans to reduce electricity costs for Russian Bitcoin miners. .

However, that seems to have been a ploy to perhaps gain control over the miners and get them to register with the government for more than protection against money laundering.

Make it a legal effort

Of course, despite the stringent measures of Russia and China recently, there are many who believe that regulation is the way forward for cryptocurrencies, and in Russia there is a movement to turn mining into a legal effort.

Arseniy Scheltsin, the director of the Russian Association of Criptocurrencies and Blockchain (Racib), a lobby group backed by the Kremlin said:

"This way of making money is well adapted to the national mentality, Russian fairytale heroes tend to laze while their work is done magically."

Scheltson is leading a push for new subsidies and lower electricity tariffs for crypto miners, which, he says, will lead miners to be more transparent and in line with the law, including tax laws.

"This would allow a center of global competition to develop and increase Russia's influence on the operation of the main virtual currencies," he said.

Putin's assistant, Vitalik Buterin

Russia's drive to understand cryptocurrencies came when the President met with the creator of Ethereum, 23, Vitalik Buterin, calling for the deployment of a digital economy in Russia to diversify the nation away from dependence on oil and gas .

Russia's progress towards a digital economy seems to become a reality as the state interest has reached a new level, and the control of such assets is accompanied. Regulation of access to exchanges, and now control of mining, would see Russia taking the lead in terms of governments trying to control the decentralized cryptographic world.

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