Russia considers penalties for unauthorized crypto mining.
Nikolai Shulginov, who leads the Russian State Duma Committee focused on Energy, intends to put forth legislative proposals to the State Duma, raising penalties for breaches of mining regulations and enacting criminal accountability for power theft during cryptocurrency creation.
These modifications pertain to the Criminal Code and the Criminal Procedure Code. According to Shulginov, his department is formulating the drafts together with the office of Yuri Chaika, the Presidential Envoy to the North Caucasus Federal District.
“We observe a surge in unlawful mining operations and their adjustment to prohibitions. Reduced electricity costs for inhabitants in various areas, like the Irkutsk Region, Khakassia, and the Republic of Tatarstan, combined with utilizing these rates for cryptocurrency production, prompt the relocation of hardware from business-oriented data facilities into basements, lofts, garages, and balconies, causing greater unmetered usage and increasing pressure on the electrical network,” the committee head clarified regarding the necessity for the adjustments.
He deemed the circumstance as “demanding immediate action” and noted that he forwarded a proposition to Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak aimed at removing garage cooperatives, cellars, and sheds from being classified as residential customers. The parliamentarian voiced his concern that unauthorized cryptocurrency miners are progressively moving to such infrastructures.
The representative hinted that the government might endorse regulatory measures and institute actions to bolster oversight of miners and the importation of virtual currency mining equipment into the nation.
Previously, Attorney General Alexander Gutsan declared at a session of the Coordinating Council of Attorneys General of the CIS nations that Russia anticipates implementing responsibility for the illegitimate movement of virtual assets.
