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Russia to explore crypto for trade, tighten rules on mining
The new laws would enable Russia's central bank to set up a pilot project to explore the use of cryptocurrency in cross-border payments as a means to skirt Western sanctions
Cryptocurrency miners seen in a liquid immersion cooling mining tank. REUTERS File Photo. Image used for illustrative purpose only.
Russian lawmakers voted on Tuesday to tighten rules on cryptocurrency mining, while also paving the way for it to be used in cross-border payments as a means to skirt Western sanctions.
Russia has been cut off from swathes of the global payments network in response to its full-scale military offensive on Ukraine, complicating its ability to trade internationally.
The new laws would enable Russia's central bank to set up a pilot project to explore the use of cryptocurrency -- previously not a permitted means of payment -- in cross-border transactions.
Moscow hopes that digital crypto transactions, which are harder for Western regulators to track, will make it easier to buy banned goods on the international market
Lawmakers in Russia's State Duma, the lower house of parliament, voted to pass the legislation in its second and third reading on Tuesday.
The bill will now be sent to the upper Federation Council and then to President Vladimir Putin for final approval.
The measures will also tighten rules on cryptocurrency mining at home.
Russia is one of the world's largest crypto miners, though Putin has expressed concern over the huge amounts of energy used for mining.
Large-scale mining will be limited to companies on a government-approved list, who will have to provide transaction data to various agencies.
Moscow would also be able to ban mining altogether in places where it puts too much pressure on the energy grid.
Putin has said that three regions in Siberia are already seeing energy deficits due to intense crypto mining, which involves computers solving complicated equations that require enormous quantities of computing power.
The area -- where temperatures are cold and electricity is cheap -- is one of the global crypto mining hotbeds.
Previous proposals for a blanket ban on trading cryptocurrency were dropped from the legislation.
Russian officials have been tussling over regulating the industry for years.
The central bank is pushing its own "digital ruble", a government-backed blockchain-based digital currency that it says will enhance the country's payments infrastructure.
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