A prominent Russian lawmaker has proposed a personal income tax rate of at least 15% for crypto miners, according to local media reports, as the country continues to debate regulations for the industry.

Fast facts

  • Vladimir Gutenev, who chairs an industry committee at the Duma, parliament’s lower house, said at a Friday briefing that mining companies should be subject to a tax rate of at least 6% while individuals should be taxed at a minimum of 15%, if the country decides to treat crypto as securities, Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported.
  • President Vladimir Putin backs a government proposal to tax and regulate crypto mining rather than banning the activity entirely, Bloomberg reported last month. Russia is in the midst of an ongoing debate on regulating crypto.
  • At the end of August, Russia recorded 11.2% of the global Bitcoin hashrate, making it the third-largest mining center in the world, following the U.S. at 35.4% and Kazakhstan’s 18.1%, according to the latest data from the Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance.