Russian Crypto Industry Sends Government Draft Mining Bill
Russian crypto industry chiefs have teamed up with business leaders to create a draft bill that could legalize the nation’s booming mining sector.
According to ComNews, Alexander Brazhnikov, the Executive Director of the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (RACIB), spoke about the bill at a crypto-related event on March 22.
Brazhnikov said he expected 2024 to “bring many changes for the industry. He explained:
“I have spoken with regulators. They said that we should not wait for their proposals on the formation of a bill on mining in Russia. Instead, they suggested proposing ideas ourselves.”
Brazhnikov said that RACIB had done just that. He said the industry body had “sent letters” to ministries proposing “developing the crypto-economy and crypto mining in Russia.”
The industry chief said the body had sent draft regulation proposals to the Ministry of Energy and the Ministry of Economic Development.
And Brazhnikov added that he would also send the draft bill to Rosfinmonitoring, the nation’s anti-money laundering agency.
The RACIB chief said the Ministry of Finance would also be invited to “consider” the proposals.
Industry leaders will be hopeful of a breakthrough after years of fruitless discussions and pleading with Moscow to legalize their business operations.
However, they will be hopeful this latest bid could succeed where others have failed. The RACIB bill has already won the support of State Duma lawmakers Anton Tkachev, Vladimir Plyakin, Grigory Shilkin, and Sardana Avksentyeva.
The bill claims that, per “expert estimates,” Russian citizens “have opened more than 12 million cryptocurrency wallets” as the nation becomes increasingly crypto-keen.
RACIB says Russians are currently holding a combined total
