According to Russian officials who are preparing to legalize crypto mining, the activity should be permitted in areas that have excess energy, while those with energy deficits should prohibit it.
A crypto industry expert recently highlighted the regions where crypto mining is likely to be authorized as well as those where it is likely going to be banned.
Crypto mining legislation
The Mistry of Finance and the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) had recently come to an agreement about coming up with legislation for regulating the crypto mining industry by the end of this year.
Lawmakers who are working on developing the said legislation have agreed that industrial activity should only be permitted in those regions of the country where excess electricity is produced.
Anatoly Aksakov, the parliamentary Financial Market Committee’s chairman, is also one of the lawmakers working on the legislation.
He said that areas that are facing power shortages should ban the energy-intensive process of crypto mining.
According to the high-ranking official, they would file the legislation with the State Duma soon and would call for regulating crypto mining as well as cryptocurrencies simultaneously.
Previous proposal
However, it is important to note that authorizing crypto mining only in regions with excess electricity is not a new idea.
Back in February, the Russian Ministry of Economic Development had also made a similar proposal and the department had also suggested that ‘acceptable’ electricity rates be introduced for crypto miners.
ENCRY Foundation’s co-founder, Roman Nekrasov highlighted the regions of the Russian Federation that are likely to be permitted to allow crypto mining activities.
He also listed the regions where he believes miners will not be welcome. He said that regions with nuclear and hydroelectric power plants were likely to permit mining.
These areas have already been populated with a number of crypto mining farms over the years. Some of them include Krasnoyarsk Krai and Oblast, which have numerous hydroelectric power plants.
Other regions are Saratov, Leningrad, Smolensk and Tver, which have nuclear plants.
Other details
Regions that are likely to impose a ban on crypto mining activities include the capital Moscow, along with Moscow Oblast, Krasnodar Krai and Belgorod Oblast, which tend to have an energy deficit.
It is also expected that the authorities will intensify their crackdown against illegal crypto mining activities, particularly in the Dagestan region.
This is yet another region in the Russian Federation where mining has become a source of income because of high unemployment, but it also suffers from an energy deficit.
It is possible that the Russian authorities may permit crypto minting activities in Karelia, but there are likely going to be conditions associated with it.
These would include mining operations offering their support for constructing small hydropower plants. Earlier this year, a study was conducted, which showed that Karelia was one of the most popular regions for crypto mining.
Russia is considered one of the best places for this activity due to its abundant energy resources as well as cool climate.
