The Russian Ministry of Justice proposed a new draft bill to punish illegal crypto mining with severe prison sentences. This measure arises following official warnings about the lack of registration of current operators in the national territory. According to authorities, most miners have not yet joined the mandatory tax register to date.
On the other hand, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov reported that only 30% of miners have legalized their operations. Proposed fines could reach up to 1.5 million rubles for those operating outside the established legal framework today. Likewise, the government seeks to bring this industry out of the shadows to ensure effective and orderly tax collection.
In addition, the official document suggests up to two years of forced labor for less serious offenders in the sector. The general focus is to formalize digital mining activity to avoid risks to the national energy system. In this way, the country tries to balance technological growth with compliance with current tax regulations and laws.
The tightening of criminal penalties for large-scale mining operations in the country
On the other hand, if the activity generates considered excessive profits, the punishment could scale up to five years in prison. Russian justice will punish organized groups with greater rigor if they operate clandestinely obtaining millionaire benefits. Therefore, unregistered miners face an uncertain future if they decide to ignore the new mandatory registration requirements starting now.
Electricity consumption limits were also established for physical miners operating from their homes on a regular basis. Those who exceed 6,000 kWh per month must register mandatorily with the Federal Tax Service to avoid penalties. However, many small operators still do not know the real impact of these new amendments to the Criminal Code.
Will the new laws be able to stop excessive energy consumption in Russian regions?
Nevertheless, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov highlighted that only 1,364 miners were formally registered as of last October. The ban on mining in ten specific regions will come into effect starting January 1st of next year. This temporary restriction seeks to solve electricity shortage problems in critical areas where consumption has skyrocketed recently.
Finally, the Russian government maintains its intention to allow the use of cryptocurrencies only for experimental international payments. Greater surveillance is expected over industrial farms that do not comply with reporting their monthly income. The success of these measures will depend on the state’s capacity to monitor energy consumption in real time.
