Russian Bitcoin Gamblers Face Another Delay as New Bill Gets Postponed
by 
More Assessment Needed
According to the original report, Elena Sidorenko, a member of the bill drafting group and a professor at the MSIIR (Moscow State Institute of International Relations), told IF24 that the legalization process is being postponed for the winter due to several important factors.
First of all, Sidorenko informed, was that a consensus hasn’t been reached as to what the bill would look like and set to accomplish. The group has to decide whether the law would be a separate law or an amendment to existing legislation, but also how cryptocurrencies are going to be defined. For now, Sidorenko believes that Russia will most likely follow Japan’s example and define digital currencies as means of payment.
Reportedly, the team feels that Bitcoins should not be equated to foreign currencies since they are a decentralized system. Thus, it is also possible that they are to be defined as digital assets. If they are, the group would have to decide whether to categorize them within existing digital asset categories or set a new category for digital currencies.
Another reason for not rushing things is the serious oscillations of Bitcoin’s rate (and that of other crypto currencies) the government was able to observe during recent times, which reportedly made them want to better assess the volatility of such assets and the government’s preparedness in compensating for the said volatility.
Sidorenko also stresses the collapse of the BTC-E exchange as another reason for the postponement, as it showed the team that Bitcoin as a payment system had vulnerabilities that had to be “compensated” in some way. Considering Russia’s law enforcement bodies are not prepared to investigate such crimes, the law is therefore being postponed, but not cancelled.
Popularity of Bitcoin Mining on the Rise
While the official government is still warming up to the idea of Bitcoin and Bitcoin casinos nevertheless still cater to the country, another interesting trend is forming in Russia – Bitcoin Mining. Namely, according to a ABS CBN report, Bitcoin mining operations are on the increase in the Slavic nation, where computer stores are reportedly running out of high-performance gaming graphic cards, which miners buy to build their own custom rigs.
To get the gist of this new trend, the news portal spoke to a local entrepreneur and miner Dmitry Marinichev, a 42-year-old man who is also employed in President Putin’s financial advisory team. Marinichev believes the form of money we use now is likely to disappear and is thus currently at the head of a football-field-sized mining operation located in a former Soviet factory.
Minichev said that mining is on the rise not only because the use of cryptocurrencies is increasing, but also because mining digital money like Bitcoin is easily accessible to anyone, even people who have little idea of computer engineering. He is now at the helm of a new project that would see his operation join a mining club, but also develop e new mining chip in Russia via his startup, for which he is seeking $100 million in funding.
