INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
President Vladimir Putinsigned a law Friday that developed the legal framework to tax cryptocurrency mining and deals, as Russia looks for
to manage its cryptocurrency industry.The new law acknowledges digital currency as home in amendments to Russias Tax Code.While excusing
cryptocurrency mining and sales from the value-added tax (VAT), the law requires mining operators to report to local authorities or pay a
fine of 40,000 rubles ($380)
Cryptocurrency trading will undergo earnings taxes, tiered at 13% for earnings of as much as 2.4 million rubles ($22,300) and 15% above
that.Corporate entities will be subject to the standard business tax rate of 25%, starting next year.Most of the laws provisions are
expected to participate in force instantly, with specific delayed exceptions.Russia, among the worlds leaders in cryptocurrency mining,
apparently expects to gather up to 200 billion rubles (around $2 billion) a year from miners.Russias tax servicelaunched a database of
government-approved large-scale miners on Nov
1 under a law that Putin checked in August.Another law passed around the same time enables Russias Central Bank to set up a pilot project
checking out cross-border transactions using cryptocurrency.Russia hopes that digital cryptocurrency transactions, which are harder for
Western regulators to track, will make it much easier to buy banned products on the worldwide market.The United States has threatened to
sanction banks in countries such as China, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates if they help Moscow get ahold of banned military products, or
trade with Russian companies that have actually been sanctioned.AFP contributed reporting.
