Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin is looking to implement crypto taxes in his native land.
Mishustin: Crypto Must Be Taxed
In a recent interview, Mishustin – a former director of tax agencies in Russia – has said that the country is more than likely to adopt a new crypto tax plan this coming spring. He states:
I am convinced that it is necessary to tax such operations and to correctly assess any economic consequences of using cryptocurrencies.
Many are thrilled about the addition of Mishustin to Russia’s list of ongoing tax regulators. In the past, he has sought to bring an end to VAT-related fraud and has gone after individuals hiding their money in Cyprus, the Cayman Islands and other regions with very lenient tax laws. Anti Danilevski – founder of the Kick Ecosystem and the Kick Ex trading platform – comments:
I think the arrival of new Prime Minster Mikhail Mishustin increases the likelihood of Russia putting further protections in place for crypto [investors] and enterprises. What they do now is critical.
As it stands, many people who invest in crypto in Russia are not protected by current financial laws. The country does not view cryptocurrencies as valid money and has not instilled protections for those who seek to dabble in them. Thus, whoever is the victim of a pump and dump scheme or of an exchange hack is on their own and isn’t likely to garner police help or reimbursements.
But with the issuance of new tax guidance on crypto, people who trade digital currencies are likely to garner the same safety net they would receive if they were conducting transactions via standard financial institutions.
Danilevski also believes a taxation plan would be good in that it can bring cryptocurrency into more legitimate and mainstream territory. He’s confident that businesses will begin to change their minds about crypto and begin accepting digital assets like bitcoin and Ethereum as valid methods of payment.
However, he is concerned about what he calls the “die hard” crypto fans who have been involved since the beginning and say the entire industry should not involve governing bodies.
Russia’s Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina is also looking into stable currency technology and wondering if perhaps Russia’s primary institution could potentially release a new “digital ruble” to the public in the coming months or years. Stable currencies are digital assets tied to fiat currencies like the U.S. dollar, the yen or the euro as a means of combatting volatility.
Is a Russian Stable Coin On Its Way?
Nabiullina explained:
We are testing stable coins in our regulatory ‘sandbox.’ Companies that want to issue tokens secured by some real assets… are in the sandbox to see how this can work, but we do not [know how] they will function as a means of payment or become a money substitute.
