Here’s how Russia’s bill to legalize crypto mining could influence Bitcoin price

• New Russian bill seeks to legalize crypto mining, sales under a new “experimental legal regime.”
• A bill was introduced into the Russian State Duma on November 17, seeking to legalize mining and the sale of mined cryptocurrency. 
• Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Duma Financial Markets Committee believes that the bill will likely come into force on February 1. 

A new bill was proposed in the lower house of the Russian parliament regarding cryptocurrency mining. The bill proposes legalizing cryptocurrency mining and the sale of mined crypto on November 17. 

The sale of Bitcoin and mined cryptocurrencies by Russians could increase selling pressure on the asset. 

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Russian bill could legalize crypto mining in 2023

A new crypto mining bill was introduced in the lower house of the Russian parliament on November 17. The bill proposes to legalize cryptocurrency mining and the sale of the mined digital assets. 

Cryptocurrencies cannot be used for settling payments in Russia currently. However the draft of the new bill seeks to legalize crypto mining and sales under an “experimental legal regime.” 

The proposed bill reads:

Digital currency obtained as a result of mining can be disposed of by the person who carried out the mining of this digital currency on the condition that Russian information infrastructure is not used in conducting transactions with it, with the exception of cases of transactions carried out in accordance with the established experimental legal regime.

Russian crypto mining bill could be passed as early as 2023

Anatoly Aksakov, Chairman of the Duma Financial Markets Committee told the local press that he expects the proposed bill to pass all three parliamentary readings in December 2022. The bill could come into force as early as February 1, while other sources believe it could become a law as early as January 1. 

Aksakov said:

Passage of the law will bring this activity into the legal field, and make it possible to form a law enforcement practice on issues related to the issuance and circulation of digital currencies.

This draft bill was made possible by the law on digital innovation passed in 2020. The bill introduces and defines cryptocurrency mining and mining pools, and bans advertising of digital assets in Russia. 

Bitcoin price could crumble under selling pressure

If the new Russian mining bill becomes a law, there is a likelihood that miners will sell their digital assets on exchanges. This would imply miners transfer Bitcoin to cryptocurrency exchanges to sell it for fiat currencies or exchange it for other cryptocurrencies. 

An increase in the supply of a cryptocurrency on exchanges, increases the selling pressure on it, negatively affecting its price. Bitcoin price could suffer an adverse impact from the rising balance on exchanges, and the sale of BTC by Russian miners.