The Russian central bank is in favor of legalizing the cryptocurrency mining industry, but only with one terrible stipulation: miners must not sell their currencies to Russian citizens.
The Russian central bank continues to take a very unfavorable position against cryptocurrencies and has suggested that local miners be prohibited from selling coins to locals. The Bank of Russia has endorsed the notion of allowing cryptocurrency mining in Russia as part of a draft law that was unveiled in mid-November 2022.
However, the Russian central bank intends to restrict cryptocurrency sales by miners to overseas exchanges and non-Russian citizens, according to a Dec. 7 article from the regional news outlet Interfax.
“We believe that cryptocurrency obtained as a result of mining can be sold exclusively using foreign infrastructure and only to non-residents… In general, we adhere to the position on the inadmissibility of the circulation of digital currency on the territory of the Russian Federation.”
The new idea would reportedly raise a lot of concerns among Russian miners, as many foreign cryptocurrency exchanges have prohibited Russians from utilizing their platforms in accordance with sanctions imposed due to Russia’s involvement in the conflict in Ukraine.
The Bank of Russia has long advocated for limiting resident trading to international trading platforms. The apex bank has proposed that miners who wish to sell self-mined cryptocurrency within Russia do so through an “approved entity.”
A draft law on cryptocurrency mining was presented by Russian legislators to the lower chamber of parliament on November 17, as was previously reported. A prohibition on the sale of cryptocurrency that has been mined to Russian citizens was not included in the bill’s original draft.
The bill also prohibits miners from selling their coins elsewhere other than on international exchanges or through the state-backed platform that is being constructed as part of the cryptocurrency legal framework’s test phase.
The government’s initiative to legalize cryptocurrency for cross-border payments for imports is one of the most eagerly awaited legal initiatives in Russia, along with a bill on crypto mining. The corresponding adjustments are anticipated to be approved by February 2023, according to Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the lower house of parliament of Russia’s finance committee.