After years of debate over crypto mining regulation, parliamentarians say they are finally ready to vote on legalizing industrial mining. Newspaper Izvestia reported that the bill will be submitted to the State Duma this week.

Senior politicians claim the bill could be passed “in full” by the end of the current session on August 5. Market players noted that “bringing the industry out of the shadows” would also help its development and provide Russia with new cross-border payment options.

The report claimed that industrial miners could bring “approximately $2.8 billion in net liquidity” into the country in crypto. While the vast majority of Russian crypto miners focus on Bitcoin (BTC), a smaller number of miners prefer to mine tokens such as Litecoin (LTC).

However, the $570 million contribution will come mainly in the form of tax revenues. Currently, industrial players do not pay taxes on their profits because mining does not have a legal status.

Miners appear keen to change this situation, reasoning that the value of future investments will exceed their future tax bills. Izvestia notes that the bill was “prepared a year and a half ago, then revised several times.” However, its final version reached the State Duma “on the instructions of President Vladimir Putin last week.”

The media outlet stated that the first reading of the bill is likely to go smoothly. However, politicians are likely to make changes before the bill’s second and third readings.

Valery Seleznev, deputy chairman of the State Duma Energy Committee, told the newspaper that he expected the Russian lower house to pass the bill “within the remaining week and a half of the spring session.”

Key issues covered in the bill include:

• Crypto miners will have to declare their income.

• Regulators will create a national registry of approved crypto miners.

• The government, together with the Central Bank, will create a set of rules for crypto miners.

• Moscow will create a “federal executive body” that will “supervise compliance with these rules.”

The bill was reintroduced in April this year following intense lobbying by crypto mining industry bodies. The miners have also notified the Russian government that they will grant Moscow access to several new state-of-the-art data centers for state-backed IT projects.

However, there are several more issues that need to be resolved once the bill reaches the State Duma. The Central Bank had previously said that it wanted industrial miners to sell all their money on crypto exchanges abroad.

The bank does not want cryptocurrencies to “enter the Russian economy” and thinks that platforms abroad will help convert these currencies into cash.

However, the bank’s proposal did not find much support. The anti-money laundering agency and law enforcement agencies stated that such a move would open the door to money laundering schemes. Izvestia reported that the Russian Cabinet did not approve of this situation.

The ministers stated that they wanted to allow the use of Russian infrastructure – namely Russian crypto exchanges – “in the sale of these assets”.

Seleznev stated that he supports this proposal, so the new system will work properly. The law will thus “not hinder” companies “trying to process international payments” with digital assets, the lawmaker added. In order to quickly pass the law through the State Duma, lawmakers say the bill will not contain any tax-related articles.

They note that this will be the subject of a separate bill that will make the necessary changes to the Russian tax code. MPs claim miners may have to pay “income tax” on their earnings. However, alternatives to this proposal have also been raised.

The newspaper reported that some Finance Ministry officials have proposed introducing a “consumption tax” on electricity used for mining. The bill could also include clauses allowing Russian regions to limit or ban crypto mining operations if they think their networks are under pressure.