Until recently, ordinary citizens were not familiar with the concept of cryptocurrency, but today the prospect of financial electronic transactions interests almost everyone. It is noteworthy that with the growing popularity, the prospect of cryptocurrency in Russia is still not clear, since the law regulating it has not been adopted. Most experts are confident that e-currency will be recognized, but there are other options for the development of events, more about everything in the article.
Cryptocurrency concept
A feature of such money is that it is not backed up by material values, that is, you can’t touch such a coin in real life. Cryptocurrency is used only in digital form to pay for goods or transfers.
Popular cryptocurrencies in Russia today are similar to the world rating, and most often miners try to mine bitcoins. In addition to them, there are many more varieties of digital currencies (Ethereum, Dash, Litecoin), but it is Bitcoin that is the first, and therefore the most popular. Its rate to date has exceeded 912 thousand rubles. (16 thousand dollars) for just one unit, and this despite the fact that some 10 years ago no one knew about this phenomenon. The first miner was Satoshi Nakamoto, who began to extract digital money at a time when only 1 dollar was given for 1300 bitcoins.
Mining concept
This procedure is cryptocurrency mining itself. The process is carried out by solving mathematical problems with the computing power of a computer. To do this, the user leases them and upon completion of the task receives a reward. For greater efficiency, miners are combined into teams called pools, or act alone, but. in order to get the maximum benefit from the capacities, there must be a lot of them. Everything happens on the blockchain network, in which data on all currency transfers is stored. To get the extracted digital money, miners need special cryptocurrency wallets. So far, the draft law on cryptocurrency in Russia is only being prepared, but the WebMoney electronic payment system already offers its users to open such a wallet.
World Currency Status
At the moment, it is impossible to accurately determine the attitude to cryptocurrency around the world, since few countries have already adopted laws defining the status of such money.
Developed countries, such as Japan and some representatives of Europe, almost immediately equated bitcoins with real money, and citizens can pay them freely. A similar legalization is expected in South Korea.
At the same time, the United States, Canada and Singapore allow transactions with digital currencies, but tax them, and in China, Indonesia and Vietnam, such settlements are generally prohibited.
It is difficult to say whether the cryptocurrency will be banned in Russia, since the experience of countries that have already applied such measures is not very successful. One can only say for sure that at the moment, no state has full legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies, since such money is decentralized and does not have a controlling body.
The beginning of the promotion of bills
The status of cryptocurrencies in Russia was thought back in 2014. It was then that the first statements from the legislative bodies appeared that all actions with such types of money could be banned, but at that time it was presented as a recommendation and did not portend anything serious.
Some time after such statements, the Ministry of Finance set about developing a law that would define digital currencies as “money surrogates,” but the draft had a lot of contradictions, so they had to consider it. After the text was slightly redone, but the exact determination of whether the cryptocurrency was legal in Russia did not follow.
2015 in the history of cryptocurrencies in Russia
Oddly enough, public outrage began at the level of one of the city courts of the Sverdlovsk region, whose ruling unexpectedly prohibited the operation of some cryptocurrency mining sites.
The regional court subsequently overturned this decision, but the legalization of cryptocurrencies in Russia was a big question. Moreover, in the summer of the same year, a bill was already proposed at the state level, providing for criminal liability for mining and any circulation of virtual currencies in the country.
Next year
In 2016, the wording of the law on virtual currencies changed so often that the answer to the question whether cryptocurrency is legal in Russia became obvious. A strict ban and serious criminal liability were argued by the fact that it is impossible to control the flows of virtual money, which means that they can be easily used by scammers to launder funds. At the same time, the authorities mentioned that citizens are able to mine cryptocurrency in unlimited quantities, although, in fact, bitcoins exist only in strictly limited quantities (21 million units).
Interestingly, after the sentence of imprisonment of up to 7 years for mining was approved, in the summer the situation changed dramatically, and they decided to equate virtual money with foreign currency. The reason for this was the need to recognize that the Blockchain technology cannot exist without a cryptocurrency exchange. As a result, they were allowed to work with digital currencies on conditionally legal grounds, because everything that is not forbidden is allowed.
We are getting to the main thing
Last year was marked by the most loyal attitude to virtual money from the state, and the Central Bank generally stated that it had never supported the ban on the circulation of such currencies.
Thus, fears of whether cryptocurrencies will be banned in Russia have slowly disappeared, but no exact definition has been given for such types of money.
The government actively insists on equating cryptocurrency with federal loan bonds in order to create a separate body capable of regulating its turnover in the country. Such a decision would prohibit any payment with virtual money, but at the same time allow their exchange. That is, it will not be possible to pay directly for the extracted bitcoins, but after exchanging them for real money, it is free to use the existing capital in rubles. For the exchange, special cryptocurrency exchanges will be created, strictly regulated by the bank.
The benefits and harms of this option
At the moment, no concrete decision has been made on this issue, but the state flatly refuses to recognize virtual money as an instrument of free payments. This situation is only partially justified. Of course, it will allow regulating the movement of digital currencies, but it will also provoke the growth of the shadow market, since such transactions will lose attractiveness for most users. Thus, the inhibition of the development of the virtual economy will not allow equating the social and economic status of developed countries even in the near future.
Of course, another option is being considered with the possible legalization of cryptocurrencies in Russia, but only with the release of its own "crypto ruble." Due to this, virtual currencies known today can be freely mined, and in order to buy something, they simply need to be exchanged (well, or converted, as you wish) to virtual rubles.
Future forecasts
By mid-summer of this year, the government should be offered effective bills to regulate digital currencies and their precise definition. One thing is obvious: the prohibition of circulation of such currencies today is disadvantageous to the financial organizations themselves, since the technology for their production is constantly evolving. That is why everyone who cares whether cryptocurrency is legal in Russia should not be feared.
According to assumptions from state authorities, in the future, the bill may provide for taxes on mining. This is explained by the fact that they want to equate the extraction process to entrepreneurial activity, which means that only registered IPs will be able to carry out mining and, accordingly, will have to pay the right to do so.
Among the predictions for a future bill, potential criminal liability for directly paying such virtual currency is often mentioned. The Ministry of Finance considers this as a constitutional principle - the national currency is the means of payment in the country, therefore no other options for money can be paid. If necessary, they can always be exchanged for rubles and then already pay for the purchase. Depending on the extent of the violation, punishment will be determined.
In general, the concept of the bill is clear. Nobody will forbid citizens to buy bitcoins directly, but they will no longer be able to pay for goods.
Features of the legal framework
Whether cryptocurrency is legal in Russia, it will be possible to know for sure only after the relevant government decree. For its development, a special interdepartmental group has even been created, which will determine the status of cryptocurrencies in the country and the features of their extraction. Among the possible future events, many even mention the ban on mining in apartment buildings, since the "farms" increase the temperature and noise level too much. At the same time, for owners of certain buildings involved in cryptocurrency mining, discounts on electricity are possible.
In general, the work of the group to develop the bill is aimed primarily at determining the status of the digital currency itself. Only after this concretization will it be possible to talk about prohibitions, taxes and so on.
Regulatory need
The state itself is interested in such a step, since only a clear definition of the concept and status of virtual currencies can allow controlling their flows. At the moment, digital money is decentralized around the world and mined anonymously, so it is impossible to track their movement, which means that the risk of shadow use of bitcoins is growing. Only after the currency has been assigned a certain status will it be possible to begin its regulation, the main thing is that the decision made allows the use of bitcoins for individuals.
Finally
Before making money on cryptocurrency in Russia, many are interested, but is it legal? At the moment, there is no strict regulation, so miners who have been working in this way for a long time in this way can still be calm. If the desire to mine cryptocurrency has just appeared, then rushing to buy a "farm" is not advisable. The fact is that the payback period of such equipment is about 10 months, and the bill on determining the status of cryptocurrency must be adopted this summer.
It is recommended for beginners to wait for an exact decision of the government, after which it will already be determined exactly whether it will be possible to start production or if it is necessary to register as an IP. Perhaps the procedure will generally be banned by ordinary people, and the "farm" will have to be sold without receiving any benefits. Miners who are already earning daily profit can still continue their activities quietly, since their benefits are obvious.
Of course, the state is interested in the profits of its people, and its own profits from its activities, too, so you should not expect a strict ban on cryptocurrencies. Moreover, the adverse experience in this area of other countries is a good example.