On May 31 and June 1, the fifth Crypto South 2025 forum was held at the main venue of the Gelendzhik Arena in Gelendzhik. The event attracted over 4,000 participants, featured over 60 projects, and featured over 50 speakers.
The forum brought together government officials, law enforcement officials, business leaders, and industry experts. They discussed current issues such as the development of digital asset mining and cryptocurrency regulation, the prospects for the Russian market, and security issues.
Participants raised key topics during the panel discussion "The Evolution of Legislation in the Russian Federation." The session addressed current challenges that legislators must address.
Amnesty for digital asset mining equipment
State Duma Deputy Sergei Altukhov spoke about the progress of creating a legal framework for the industry. He stated that Russia accounts for approximately 15% of the global mining market, necessitating the industry's legalization in 2024. Now, according to baseline estimates, the authorities expect to collect 80-160 billion rubles in tax revenue from the industry, Altukhov said.
However, he noted that not all digital asset miners had "legalized" themselves, only those who had officially registered their equipment. And now, at the direction of State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin, deputies have formed a working group that is working with the government on a possible amnesty for miners who imported equipment illegally, so they can register it without any penalties.
According to Oleg Ogienko, an independent expert on blockchain, energy, and digital assets, the share of digital asset mining equipment imported into Russia through illegal schemes amounts to approximately 60%. He also noted that the inability to register equipment without consequences also hinders tax payments.
Legalization of crypto exchangers
Altukhov said that lawmakers are also currently discussing the entry threshold for investing in cryptocurrencies for qualified investors. He added that there's an understanding that if cryptocurrency becomes an investment option, the country will concentrate "a certain amount of liquidity in the form of cryptocurrencies."
He added that another important current task is to make cryptocurrencies a financial instrument like stocks and other securities. To achieve this, the legislator believes that the legal exchange of cryptocurrencies is essential.
"It's no secret that you can't pay for anything in a store with shares. You must first exchange them for rubles. The next step, I believe, would be for the Central Bank—we've already proposed these mechanisms, and we're currently discussing them with the Central Bank—to continue to introduce a regulatory sandbox for crypto exchanges. That is, those companies controlled by the Central Bank that will handle exchange and spending transactions," Altukhov said.
He noted that exchangers operate illegally, which contributes to the underground movement of large amounts of funds. On the other hand, the regulatory sandbox for cryptocurrency transactions requires liquidity, as it requires more than Russian digital asset miners produce. The deputy suggested that officially adding exchangers to the regulatory sandbox would solve both of these problems. Furthermore, this would also increase tax revenues.
Allowing cryptocurrency service operators operating within the regulatory sandbox to exchange their own and borrowed cryptocurrency could significantly improve the effectiveness of the Bank of Russia's "sandbox," said Denis Balashov, Managing Partner of the crypto platform Sky Capital. He noted that this is already the case with payment systems such as Visa and MasterCard. The expert agreed with the previous speaker that allowing existing exchangers to join the regulatory sandbox is also necessary.
"For the regulatory sandbox to truly function, it must have the necessary number of participants and liquidity. To avoid an imbalance in exports and imports, the regulatory sandbox must have a sufficient number of participants. And the more there are, the more efficient the system will be," Balashov said.
Non-complaint crypto market players
Police Lieutenant Colonel Evgeny Ivanenko, Head of the Department for Detecting Crimes Using Information and Telecommunication Technologies at the Criminal Investigation Directorate of the Main Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia for the Krasnodar Territory, spoke about illegal cryptocurrency transactions and the rise of fraudulent schemes.
Ivanenko noted that the crypto market is developing dynamically, and that "with skillful work," it can generate high income. However, regulation has not yet been fully established, and many unscrupulous market participants are "taking advantage of this situation in the shadows," the expert said.
He noted that since the start of the special military operation, scammers operating remotely from Ukraine have become more active. And the way victims withdraw their funds in these schemes has changed in recent years—more than 90% of the money is now withdrawn through cryptocurrency, Ivanenko said.
He noted that among all remote frauds, approximately 12% involve cryptocurrency "investment" schemes. Ivanenko also pointed out that a trader working with an unverified partner could find themselves unknowingly involved in illegal transactions.
According to a police representative, market participants' main defense against fraudulent schemes remains their own research—independent analysis of counterparties and crypto projects, and the use of specialized verification services.
Rising electricity costs
Due to large-scale plans to develop generating and grid capacity, as outlined in the General Plan for the Allocation of Electric Power Facilities until 2042 and the Energy Strategy 2050, electricity prices for industrial consumers, including miners, are rising, Oleg Ogienko said at the forum.
He explained that, according to the adopted documents, to modernize some of the decommissioned energy sector and meet growing demand, 4 GW of new generation capacity must be built annually by 2042. This requires a shortfall of 41.5 trillion rubles, which means wholesale electricity prices will at least double by 2042, the expert said.
Ogienko also noted that the average price for electricity purchased by Russian digital asset miners already exceeds 4.5-5 rubles, which at the current exchange rate is 5.7-6.3 US cents per kWh. This is already higher than the average price for US counterparts, where the average price is around 5 cents.
During the event, participants concluded that much remains to be done to ensure the local market's sustainability, both by legislators and developers. The speakers noted the industry's great potential, which can be developed through the joint efforts of government, law enforcement, Russian electrical engineering project developers, and other industry representatives.