Russia’s State Duma — or the lower house of the parliament — green-flagged two crypto centric-bills on Tuesday.
From Nov. 1, 2024, individuals registered with the Ministry of Digital Development can mine crypto assets. The law fully legalizes mining. However, there are a few caveats.
For instance, non-registered individuals can only operate rigs if their energy consumption is within the specified limits. The translated version of a local media report underlined,
“Legal entities and individual entrepreneurs are prohibited from combining digital currency mining with activities related to electricity transmission, operational dispatch management in the electric power industry, production or purchase and sale of electricity.”
Different regulatory bodies will supervise mining. In case any conflict of interest arises, the Bank of Russia will likely have the final word.
Meanwhile, miners will have to keep the government in the loop about the digital currencies they bring into circulation by mining.
Regulators will also possess the right to introduce a ban or restriction on crypto transactions, keeping in mind Russia's monetary stability.
Alongside legalization, an advertisement ban will be enforced simultaneously. Elaborating on this, the report highlighted,
“A ban on advertising crypto assets and offering them to an unlimited number of people is introduced. This ban will come into effect immediately after the law comes into force.”
The second bill bestows the Bank of Russia with powers to allow authorized companies to engage in international settlements using crypto.
Anatoly Aksakov, the Head of the Duma, told lawmakers,
“We are taking a historic decision in the financial sphere.”
Meanwhile, Elvira Nabiullina, the Central Bank Governor, expects the first batch of crypto payments to take place before the end of this year.
She affirmed that the terms of the experiment are already being discussed with ministries, departments, and businesses.
