Russia is stepping up its crackdown on illegal cryptocurrency miners by launching a national registration of mining equipment, which will help identify unregistered operations.
According to local media, Russian authorities have already edited the registry and distributed it to areas with high mining activities.
The initiative is a joint effort by the Department of Energy, Federal Tax Services and the Department of Digital Development as part of a national strategy to legalize the sector and reduce unauthorized energy consumption.
According to Deputy Minister Petr Konyushenko, national registration will allow the government to accurately identify consumers using electricity for mining purposes. He said this is necessary to ensure that crypto miners are subject to proper regulatory oversight and are taxed in line with actual energy consumption.
Konyushenko has confirmed that plans to implement the registry are already underway since early 2025, so the list has already been sent to areas with high mining activity.
The Ministry of Energy initially proposed a national registration plan in February, but later received formal support from the Ministry of Industry and Trade.
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Officials say the registry will support enforcement in areas where mining is prohibited due to power constraints. Since November, Russia has banned mining in 10 regions until March 2031 to prevent power outages during periods of high electricity demand.
The formation of the registry is tied to Russia’s broader legal framework for cryptocurrency mining, adopted in 2023. Under the law, crypto mining is permitted to Russian citizens, registered individual entrepreneurs, and corporations.
If they remain within the energy limits set by the government, individuals can mine without registration, but businesses and their own owners must register with federal tax services.
To promote transparency and support recruitment, Russia has removed VAT for crypto purchasing. In a move to formalize the sector, the government introduced a 15% tax on crypto mining profits calculated based on the market value of mined assets.
Despite the legal framework, many miners continue to operate outside of official surveillance, often using residential power lines to avoid commercial tariffs. As of June 2025, only 30% of miners had registered with FNS, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov revealed in a ministry’s report last month.
At the time, he said the government was working to lead the remaining 70% to compliance, but no enforcement action or timeline details were provided.
Russia cracks down on illegal mining
Over the past year, Russia has sought to curb illegal activities through targeted inspections and court-ordered closures of unauthorized mining sites.
As Crypto.News previously reported, in one of the biggest cases to date, prosecutors closed the outdoor mining site at Krasnoyarsk Krai, which was operated on state-run land under false documents. The site spans 30,000 square meters and generates approximately 4.6 million rubles ($58,000) in revenue per month.
Authorities also report cases in which hackers accept bribery to overlook illegal connections and accept bribery to misuse smart home devices to build secret mining networks.
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