The Russian government has introduced a bill that will impose heavy fines and asset seizures for cryptocurrency payments and coin mining without permission.
Critics say the law will undermine legal operations, drive them away from other jurisdictions and deprive them of the opportunity to develop their own crypto infrastructure from Russia.
Russia pays coins and fines million rubles for mint
Moscow’s enforcement power is preparing to attack major cryptocurrency activities with heavy fines, citing new legislative proposals, local media reported.
The draft federal law “on amending norms of administrative violations” was recently introduced to the territories of states, the House of Representatives.
The bill submitted by the Ministry of Digital Development poses liability for violations related to cryptocurrency use and mining.
Those who accept cryptocurrency for goods and services are responsible under the law.
These range from 100,000 to 200,000 rubles (nearly $2,500) for civilians, 200,000 to 400,000 rubles ($5,000) for staff, and 700,000 to 1 million rubles ($12,500) for corporations.
It was announced this week that by provisions, the authorities will confiscate the coins involved in all such cases and lead the Russian Crypto News Outlet Bit. The report also states:
“Special attention is being paid to mining digital assets.”
If lawmakers approve the current text, illegal mining activities, including participation in mining pools, will be filled with 100,000-200,000 fines (up to $5,000) to individuals, while businesses must pay between 1 million and 2 million rubles (almost $25,000).
Sponsors say similar penalties should arise if mining benefits and their sources are not reported to their respective agencies.
The latest amendments come after the submission of Russian government laws before cryptocurrencies recognized cryptocurrencies as property under the country’s criminal law and effectively legalized cryptocurrencies within criminal cases.
New Russian law covers basic cryptocurrency transactions
Russia’s financial regulators, particularly the central bank, are opposed to allowing the free circulation of cryptocurrencies in the country’s economy, despite allowing them to be used in international settlements under western sanctions.
Domestic crypto payments, including advertising, were initially prohibited by amendments to the “Digital Financial Assets” law. This was not dealing with decentralized cryptocurrencies when it was originally implemented in 2021.
The Bank of Russia was then given the power to ban crypto transactions freely through provisions added during the review of the law that legalized Bitcoin mining in 2024.
The author of the latest bill said it was sneaking into the ban on “illegal organisations of digital currency turnover,” and warned of possible consequences of words that would allow widespread interpretation and abuse by civil servants.
The ban scares businesses that plan to work with cryptocurrencies and forces them to move to more advantageous jurisdictions.
Russia has no experience in regulatory and the rights of cryptocurrency users are not protected, the website explained in detail. Moreover, as it normally happens, only legal businesses comply with the prohibition.
While restrictions hinder the development of major domestic crypto projects, the lack of industry opportunities leads to the leakage of qualified professionals. Russia must resort to foreign-made solutions rather than selling to others themselves.
“The cryptocurrency itself will not disappear due to these bans. Only Russian opportunities in promising regions for fintech,” concludes Ivan Tykonov, founder of the popular crypto portal.
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