Russia Could Collect 1 Trillion Ruble in Crypto Tax, Report Says

A recent report by a Russian outlet says that the government could collect 1 trillion rubles worth around $13 billion in digital currency tax every year.

The Bell collected some not-so-classified data from Russian authorities that helped it guess the estimated crypto tax in the country. Some authorities including the Russian Central Bank are debating with the government and the security forces about crypto regulations, on the other hand, the Russian digital currency data shows a value of 16.5 trillion rubles ($214 billion).

According to the report, the global crypto market capitalization was at $1.87 trillion last year, with a 12% share from Russians. The report added that 10% of the crypto users that reach 12 million people in Russia use foreign cryptocurrency exchanges.

How did they collect this data?

These numbers were guessed based on the IP addresses, excluding the ones using virtual private networks (VPN) or unauthorized crypto exchanges. Moreover, 5.5% of the 12 million people use Binance and a big 60% share goes to EXMO which is a UK-based crypto exchange founded in 2014.

The report points out to 17.4% of the LocalBitcoins users, a crypto exchange that is banned in Russia. The European side of the country has a 40% share in the $20 billion daily trading volume of crypto in Europe. Furthermore, 12% of Russians have a crypto wallet, reaching almost 17 million users.

Last week, the Russian Chamber of Commerce proposed the country’s Finance Ministry to recognize Bitcoin (BTC) mining as a business. This comes while The Bell’s report estimate’s “the crypto market could account for about 15% of GDP.”

“…it is practical to study the experience of countries where cryptocurrency is a digital expression of value and is not a means of payment, while cryptocurrency exchange for goods is treated as a barter transaction,” said Sergey Katyrin, the Head of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Despite differing opinions, it is reasonable to state that Russia’s cryptocurrency sector is already much too big to be simply prohibited. Most importantly, you can collect taxes on all of these billions of dollars. And the government is already assessing their volume.

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