A revised law proposed in Russia introduces stringent punishments for miners and traders who fail to declare their digital assets to the state. According to the bill, those who organize illegal cryptocurrency operations could face prison sentences, fines, and even forced labor.
Harsh Penalties Awaited by Miners and Traders Who Operate Outside Law
Crypto miners and traders in Russia have been warned of severe penalties that they may face if they don’t report their income and provide their digital asset details, such as wallet addresses, to the authorities. This was reported in the latest draft legislation that is currently being revised in Moscow.
The bill was initially submitted to parliament back in November last year. However, its adoption was later delayed, and lawmakers are now planning to resubmit it with amended provisions that would issue harsher punishments for miners who don’t comply with the rules.
The Russian Ministry of Finance, which is overseeing the changes, wants to introduce drastic penalties for those who evade declaring their crypto profits. This includes fines in the millions of rubles and even prison time, according to an online news outlet Baza.
The department has also prepared amendments to the Criminal Code. If miners fail to report their income twice over a three-year period and the value is above 15 million rubles (close to $200,000), they could face up to two years of imprisonment, a fine of up to 300,000 rubles, and even forced labor for a maximum of two years.
In addition, if the amount of unreported assets exceeds 45 million rubles in fiat equivalent (almost $600,000), the punishment will be more severe — up to four years in prison, a fine of up to 2 million rubles, and forced labor for up to four years.
New Law Imposes Even Stricter Rules on Crypto Trading
Crypto mining entities will have two options to dispose of the coins they mine — on a foreign exchange or on a Russian trading platform established under “experimental legal regimes” which are yet to be established. This is something that the Bank of Russia has been pressing for in order to support the legalization of mining.
Exchange operators, banks, or other legal entities, will be added to a special register and any crypto trading activities outside the described legal framework will be viewed as violations of the law, the penalties for which are even more severe than those prescribed for miners. “Illegal organization of circulation of digital currencies” could result in prison sentences of up to seven years, a fine of up to 1 million rubles, and forced labor for up to five years.
In the most recent version of the mining bill, the authors have also included provisions concerning the prevention of money laundering. According to the texts, cryptocurrency owners “are obliged to provide the authorized body with information on their operations (deals) with digital currency at its request.”
What do you think about the new amendments to the Russian bill on crypto mining? Share your opinion in the comments section below.
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