The Ministry of Economic Development, together with colleagues from other departments, set themselves the goal of creating conditions for the development of mining, but not to the detriment of other participants, reported in video format, Director of the Department of Digital Economy Development Vladimir Voloshin following the results of a visiting meeting of the expert council with the State Duma. He also presented the department’s key objectives in relation to the industry.
The first task is the need to determine the effective tax rate. It will allow mining to generate additional funds for socio-economic development, Voloshin said.
“According to some data, up to 7% of all cryptocurrency in the world is mined in the Irkutsk region,” he added. In this regard, the department’s second task is to transition not only to a cryptocurrency mining model, but also to future supplies of its own equipment for export. The cost of one data processing center (DPC) averages 1.5 billion rubles, while their number is growing every year, Voloshin said. He believes that the task of consolidating demand for data center equipment can help organize the production of this equipment in Russia, which will also have a positive impact on the economy as a whole.
Since mining is the extraction of cryptocurrency as a result of calculations that are performed in special data centers, which are large consumers of electricity, for some regions the volume of this consumption leads to certain restrictions for other sectors of the economy, Voloshin notes. In this regard, one of the solutions to reduce the capacity shortage may be the relocation of part of the data centers to other regions, Voloshin identified the third task facing the department. According to him, this is a difficult decision that requires discussion with the newly created Industrial Mining Association (IPM).
In addition, Voloshin draws attention to the fact that the existing model of data center operation is only mining, while the use of this equipment can be useful for other calculations – for example, for solving artificial intelligence problems. Therefore, the fourth task is precisely to use the power of data centers to carry out other calculations, the official notes.
At the end of his speech, Voloshin stated that the Ministry of Economic Development welcomes the creation of the Industrial Mining Association. According to him, this will help to work more effectively with issues related to mining and cryptocurrencies. “We expect to receive work plans as soon as possible and are ready to begin jointly working on these issues,” says Vladimir Voloshin.
Recently, APM was created in Russia. It was founded by five companies involved in the supply of equipment and capacity for cryptocurrency mining: Bitriver, Intelion Mine, Promminer, Stella and Sibstroykapital. The new organization was headed by Oleg Ogienko, director for interaction with government agencies at Bitriver.
Previously, the largest cryptocurrency association in Russia was RACIB (Russian Association of Crypto Industry and Blockchain). This organization brings together participants in the blockchain technology market, including investors, miners, and cryptocurrency holders. The goal of RACIB is the integration of blockchain technologies and solutions developed on its basis into the Russian economy.
