TechFlow, October 15 — According to Cryptonews, illegal and semi-legal cryptocurrency mining is costing Russia "millions of dollars" annually in electricity and tax losses.
The report stated that to avoid high taxes and electricity costs, many miners have gone underground, resulting in "annual budget losses amounting to billions of rubles." Although Moscow requires all industrial miners to report operational data to the Federal Tax Service and obtain legal status as "entrepreneurs," small-scale miners remain reluctant to comply.
Experts estimate there are around 140,000 Bitcoin and altcoin mining farms in Russia, with numbers continuously growing, yet most remain unregistered. Since commercial electricity costs account for 80% of mining profits, miners often reduce expenses through fraud or private deals with energy companies, forcing ordinary consumers to indirectly bear the cost of mining operations.
