The cryptocurrency market in Russia has experienced tremendous growth despite the deficiency in cryptocurrency regulations. This view was expressed by a major industry executive as the Russian crypto market is currently worth hundreds of billions of dollars.
Sergei Khitrov Discusses Crypto Regulations in Russia
Sergei Khitrov, founder of Blockchain Life and Listing.Help, was a keynote speaker at the seventh Blockchain Life Forum in Moscow where he discussed cryptocurrency regulation in the country at the moment. Khitrov has estimated the worth of the Russian crypto market to be between $280 billion and $550 billion (20-40 trillion rubles).
He made his estimate using information available on services such as cryptocurrency mining and their local cash flows. He also estimated that the crypto businesses operating in Russia can produce up to $4 billion (284 billion rubles) in taxes per year especially if the Russian government introduces favorable regulations for the cryptocurrency industry.
Over the years, Russian regulators have not paid attention to the interests of the crypto industry. Hence, the crypto businesses in the country either have to operate illegally or move their operations to another country with favorable conditions to sustain the business. Due to the absent regulation, crypto businesses have to operate in the shadows as it’s not profitable to operate in the open.
He also stated that no local cryptocurrency exchange in the country has established its business in the country officially. And this is despite the large market size of the cryptocurrency industry in Russia. These exchanges may choose to operate in other countries despite their Russian roots or may not register officially in Russia.
Regulation Will Attract Big Crypto Businesses Back to Russia
Sergei Khitrov expressed his commitment to advocating for crypto legislation by negotiating with different government agencies. This will probably be helped by the fact that the regulators that cryptocurrency businesses have been moving out of Russia into other jurisdictions. He stated that the Russian government has been trying to bring back the big crypto businesses but hasn’t succeeded due to the failure to meet the demands of these businesses.
He also added that the Russian crypto companies are yet to understand how they can pay taxes on cryptocurrency. Blockchain Life forum was founded by Khitrov in 2017, it is a biannual cryptocurrency event in Russia. The latest forum was held in Moscow on Tuesday and Wednesday with over 5000 people in attendance including industry leaders and government officials.
Many executives from leading crypto exchanges were present in the forum. Local cryptocurrency entrepreneurs and enthusiasts were also present at the forum which was held in Moscow. Non Fungible Token (NFT) was auctioned during the event and this auction was done via the Binance NFT platform which is owned by the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the world.
