Against the background that on December 28 Russian legislators were supposed to present the draft bill on cryptocurrency, there was held the All-Russian Congress of Miners under the auspices of State Duma in Moscow.
On December 25, besides Russians, the representatives of 15 countries, including citizens of Serbia, Turkey, and India, attended the meeting of miners in the capital of Russia, as Vesti.ru reports. However, Belarus, the long-term Russian ally which legalized cryptocurrencies last week, did not participate in the Congress. The aim of the event probably was to discuss legal issues of mining before preparing the related bill.
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Mining to be soon legalized in Russia?
Russian Internet Ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev claimed that it is impossible to forbid cryptocurrency mining in principle.
"We need to stimulate mining and motivate those who can do it. This is a net foreign exchange income," said Marinichev.
The Russian draft law on the regulation of the cryptocurrency sphere was initially intended to be finalized by the end of 2017, but due to disagreements in opinions, this will probably happen not earlier than next spring. Even Russian authorities come with contradictory statements. Some suggest that mining is a prospective opportunity, while the others believe that it should be a subject to the criminal law.
Earlier Russian Central Bank presumed that Bitcoin and its ilks put consumers at risk. Meanwhile, the country’s finance ministry has suggested that government criminalize cryptocurrency mining.
At the moment, neither Bitcoin mining nor its purchase and sell are regulated in Russia. In November, Russian Minister of Communications and Mass Media Nikolai Nikiforov said that there was little possibility that country would legalize cryptocurrency. However, President Vladimir Putin has ordered to create a legal status for Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as well as for mining and ICO.
It should be noted that the legal acts regulating the turnover of cryptocurrencies in Russia should be prepared by July 1, 2018.
