Russia hosts 190,000 illegal miners and 200,000 clandestine crypto farms - Axakov

© изображение сгенерировано ИИ

In Russia, the vast majority of cryptocurrency miners operate outside the legal framework, with their number exceeding 190,000, according to Anatoly Aksakov, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, as reported by Vesti.

He noted that there are only about 5,500 legal miners in the country, including around 4,000 individuals and approximately 1,500 companies and sole proprietors. In contrast, nearly 200,000 mining farms have been identified, highlighting the widespread nature of illegal activity.

Aksakov stressed that the "shadow" mining industry puts significant pressure on the energy infrastructure. Due to network overloads, there have been power supply disruptions both in residential areas and at industrial facilities, posing additional risks to the economy.

In response, the State Duma has already approved in the first reading a bill that would impose administrative penalties for illegal mining. Individuals could face fines ranging from 100,000 to 150,000 rubles ($1,500–2,200) with confiscation of equipment, officials could be fined between 300,000 and 800,000 rubles ($4,500–11,500) or face disqualification for up to two years, and legal entities could be fined up to 2 million rubles ($29,000) with possible suspension of operations.

The parliamentarian noted that tougher penalties are intended to deter violators and bring order to the industry.

In some regions of Russia, mining is already banned due to energy shortages, and federal subjects have the authority to impose such restrictions independently.

At the same time, authorities are working on establishing a legal framework for the industry. According to Aksakov, mining equipment is planned to be concentrated in regions with excess electricity generation, where resources are currently underutilized.

Legalization of the industry, according to the deputy, could bring significant revenue to the budget—potentially tens of billions of rubles through taxes from officially operating miners.

Earlier, the Ministry of Finance also announced plans for additional measures to combat illegal mining, including the possibility of introducing criminal liability for such violations.