Russia Will Start Imprisoning Crypto Miners Who Don’t Do This – Cryptopolitan

Russia’s government is moving to tighten regulations on cryptocurrency miners, forcing them to report earnings to the tax authorities or face up to four years in prison.

The new regulations were announced in February by Deputy Minister Aleksey Moiseev and will require miners to provide information about their digital currency receipts and the unique identifier used to account for digital currency transactions to the tax office.

Russia’s punishment

The Ministry of Finance proposes severe punishment for miners who avoid declaring digital assets. Amendments to the Criminal Code, developed by the ministry, determine that if a miner avoids income declaration at least twice within three years, and we are talking about an amount over 15 million rubles, he risks up to two years in prison, as well as a fine of up to 300 thousand rubles and forced labor for up to two years.

If the amount is over 45 million, the punishment is more severe: up to four years in prison, a fine of up to two million rubles, forced labor for up to four years.

These changes to the criminal code are designed to curb tax evasion by cryptocurrency miners. For several years, the Ministry of Finance has tried to coordinate with other authorities ways to bring the crypt under control.

In January, Aleksey Moiseev, the departments “stopped again”: they could not agree on the bill on mining, which was sent to the State Duma in November 2022. “We have disagreements there, now not only with the Central Bank, but also with law enforcement as well,” explained Moiseev.

Cracking down on illegal cryptocurrency activity

The Russian government is also cracking down on illegal cryptocurrency activity, and the new regulations open up two ways to sell cryptocurrencies in exchange for real money: on foreign crypto exchanges or on a Russian site under an experimental legal regime.

In Russia, there will be a register of operators for the exchange of digital assets, which can be banks and other legal entities. Anything that does not fit into this framework will be recognized as a violation, for which it threatens up to seven years in prison, a fine of up to one million rubles and forced labor for up to five years.

An amendment to the anti-money laundering law has also been added to the new version of the mining bill, which states that owners of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies “are obliged to provide the authorized body, upon request, with information about their operations (transactions) with digital currency .”

The State Duma is also considering another bill on the crypt, which provides for changes to the tax law. According to the document, transactions with digital currency of more than 600 thousand rubles a year will be subject to mandatory tax declaration.

At the same time, the Federal Tax Service will have the right to demand statements of accounts of individuals whose transactions are related to the transfer of digital currency, and there are signs of a possible violation of tax legislation.