A bill designed to regulate crypto mining in Russia introduces harsh penalties for miners who fail to report digital assets to the state. In its latest revision, the bill also threatens to punish those who organize illegal cryptocurrency trading with prison terms and heavy fines.
Forced labor awaits miners and traders operating outside the law, according to new bill
Russian crypto miners will have to report their income and provide tax authorities with detailed information about their digital assets, including wallet addresses, to avoid prosecution by the state. That’s according to the bill currently being reviewed in Moscow.
A bill aimed at regulating Russia’s growing coin minting industry was initially introduced to parliament in November. However, its adoption was later postponed to this year and lawmakers now plan to reintroduce it with amendments that provide for dire consequences for miners who fail to comply with the rules.
The Russian Ministry of Finance, which is working on the changes, now wants to introduce severe punishment for those who evade declaring their cryptocurrencies. This includes fines of millions of rubles and prison time, the online news outlet Baza reported.
According to the Criminal Code amendments prepared by the department, if miners fail to report their income twice within three years and the value exceeds 15 million rubles (about $200,000), they will face up to two years in prison. . a fine of up to 300,000 rubles, and even hard labor for up to two years.
If the amount of undeclared assets exceeds 45 million rubles in trust equivalent (almost $600,000), the punishment will be more severe: up to four years in prison, a fine that can reach 2 million rubles, and hard labor for up to four years, the most detailed report.
Updated Law Takes Even Stricter Stance on Cryptocurrency Trading
Crypto mining companies will have two options to sell the mined cryptocurrency: on a foreign exchange or on a Russian trading platform established under “experimental legal regimes” that have yet to be established. This is something that the Bank of Russia has been insisting on in order to support the legalization of mining.
Exchange operators, banks or other legal entities will be added to a special registry and any coin trading activity outside the described legal framework will be considered a violation of the law, the penalties for which are even more severe than those prescribed for miners. The “illegal organization of the circulation of digital currencies” will lead to prison terms of up to seven years, a fine of up to 1 million rubles and hard labor of up to five years.
In the latest version of the mining bill, the authors also added provisions regarding the prevention of money laundering. According to the texts, cryptocurrency owners “are obliged to provide the authorized body with information about their operations (offers) with digital currency at its request.”
What is your opinion on the new amendments to the Russian bill on cryptomining? Share your thoughts on the subject in the comments section below.
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