Russia is intensifying its crackdown on illegal cryptocurrency miners by launching a national registry of mining equipment, which would help identify unregistered operations.
According to local media, Russian authorities have already compiled the registry and distributed it to regions with high mining activity.
The initiative is a joint effort by the Ministry of Energy, the Federal Tax Service, and the Ministry of Digital Development, as part of a national strategy to legalize the sector and reduce unauthorised energy consumption.
A national registry will allow the government to accurately identify consumers using electricity for mining purposes, according to Deputy Energy Minister Petr Konyushenko. He said this was necessary to ensure that crypto miners are subject to appropriate regulatory oversight and taxed in line with their actual energy consumption.
Konyushenko has confirmed that the list has already been sent to regions with elevated mining activity, as plans to introduce this registry were already underway since early 2025.
The Ministry of Energy initially proposed the plan for a national registry in February, which later received formal backing from the Ministry of Industry and Trade as well.
Authorities say the registry will also support enforcement in areas where mining is banned due to power constraints. Since November, Russia has prohibited mining in ten regions until March 2031 to prevent blackouts during periods when electricity demand is high.
The formation of the registry ties into Russia’s broader legal framework for cryptocurrency mining, which was adopted in 2023. Under the law, crypto mining has been permitted for Russian citizens, registered individual entrepreneurs, and legal entities.
While individuals can mine without registration if they stay within government-set energy limits, businesses and sole proprietors are required to register with the Federal Tax Service.
To encourage transparency and support adoption, Russia removed VAT on crypto purchases. Then, in a move to formalize the sector, the government also introduced a 15% tax on crypto mining profits, calculated based on the market value of mined assets.
Despite the legal framework, many miners continue to operate outside official oversight, often tapping into residential power lines to avoid commercial tariffs. As of June 2025, only 30% of miners had registered with the FNS, Deputy Finance Minister Ivan Chebeskov disclosed in a report from the ministry last month.
At the time, he said that the government was working to bring the remaining 70% into compliance, though no further details were provided on enforcement measures or timelines.
Russia cracks down on illegal mining
Over the past year, Russia has tried to keep illegal operations in check via targeted inspections and court-ordered shutdowns of unauthorized mining sites.
As previously reported by crypto.news, in one of the largest cases to date, prosecutors shut down an open-air mining site in Krasnoyarsk Krai that operated on state-owned land under false documentation. The site spanned 30,000 square metres and generated roughly 4.6 million rubles ($58,000) in revenue per month.
Officials have also reported instances of utility workers accepting bribes to overlook illegal connections and hackers exploiting smart home devices to build covert mining networks.
