Russia will continue to search for shadow digital asset miners. How will the digital asset equipment registry help?
2025-07-08 13:55
On July 4, it was announced that the Ministry of Energy, together with the Federal Tax Service and the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media, had prepared a register of equipment used for digital asset mining. The document has already been sent to regions with high digital asset mining activity. According to the ministry's calculations, this will allow for the precise identification of consumers using electricity for digital asset mining and the application of special regulations and taxation to them.
During the discussion, the idea of creating a registry drew criticism. The main problem cited was that the registry did not contain data on equipment imported into Russia through illegal schemes.
Experts interviewed by RBC-Crypto discussed the information included in the registry, how it will help combat illegal digital asset mining, and listed other cryptocurrency mining data received by government agencies.
"The solution is in demand"
The registry includes data on several hundred ASIC miner models, including manufacturers such as Bitmain, MicroBT, Canaan, Innosilicon, and Goldshell, as well as specific hardware models such as Antminer, Whatsminer, AvalonMiner, and others, according to Artem Shchepinov, GR Director at Intelion Data Systems. He added that the registry also contains information on the digital asset mining algorithms used for each device model, such as SHA-256 for Bitcoin mining.
This registry is for reference purposes, primarily for regulators and oversight bodies, noted Oleg Ogienko, an independent expert on blockchain, energy, and digital finance. He added that in practice, the registry should help identify unscrupulous market participants who, without registering with the Federal Tax Service, declare that they are engaged in activities other than digital asset mining, thereby avoiding the shadow economy. Whether this approach will simplify the fight against illegal digital asset mining, Ogienko believes, remains to be seen.
On November 1, 2024, the provisions of the law "On Digital Financial Assets" came into force in Russia. All legal entities and individual entrepreneurs mining digital assets are required to register in a special register maintained by the Federal Tax Service. Individuals are exempt from this requirement if their operations consume no more than 6,000 kWh of electricity per month.
According to Shchepinov, this solution was in demand by both market participants and regional authorities. The expert added that the registry is particularly relevant in a context where equipment with high energy consumption can be used for a variety of purposes.
"Before the registry was created, local inspection agencies encountered difficulties, but now regional specialists have a specific tool that allows them to quickly identify equipment and thus respond more quickly to cases of unauthorized electricity consumption," Shchepinov said.
"A course towards whitewashing the market"
Ogienko believes the most pressing issue now is a limited amnesty for digital asset miners who own equipment imported and purchased through both grey and black market schemes. He estimates that problems with registering such devices prevent approximately 70% of Russian miners from emerging from the shadows.
According to Shchepinov, dialogue with the regulator on this issue is ongoing. He recalled that discussions are underway regarding the possibility of VAT being paid by the owner of equipment illegally imported before January 1, 2025, if the tax was not paid by the importer. The expert believes the amnesty should become an effective tool for legalizing equipment, attracting new participants to the registry, and continuing the process of whitewashing the market.
"The reporting system is quite clear"
Industrial digital asset mining in Russia continues to actively develop, and transparency is growing, says Vasily Girya, owner and CEO of GIS Mining. According to him, in the first half of 2025, the country will confidently hold second place in the world in cryptocurrency mining volumes, behind only the United States.
The reporting system is quite clear for market participants, and it's relatively balanced in terms of the list of documents compiled for both individuals and organizations, the expert says. He explained that digital asset mining infrastructure operators provide tax authorities with information about the miners to whom they provide services, and the information requested by the Federal Tax Service includes the following:
-Infrastructure facility address.
-Contractor information.
-Number of equipment units.
-Equipment code, serial number, operating hours.
-Any equipment (if any) and its parameters.
-Watcher-link information (a link for monitoring the operation of all devices on the pool in real time).
-Mined or received cryptocurrency.
Further development of dialogue between businesses and regulators should increase the transparency and attractiveness of the Russian market for investors, reduce gray areas, and dislodge unscrupulous players, according to Girya. He predicts that the Bitcoin exchange rate will remain at $120,000–$150,000 by the end of the year, which will increase capital inflows into digital assets and mining. And with increased oversight of equipment, Russian institutional customers will choose reliable partners, further contributing to the cleanup of the market, the expert concluded.