Russia's Mining Registry (FNS): Step-by-Step Guide and Our Experience

Russia's mining registry (kept by the Federal Tax Service, FNS) is not a paperwork formality — it's a switch that changes the legal mode of your business. Before registration, you are a grey miner with the risk of equipment confiscation and a new criminal article. After registration, you are a transparent taxpayer whose mining income is recognised by banks and doesn't scare counterparties.

Plugging an ASIC miner into a socket and forgetting about it is, under the new law, like opening a shop without a sign and a cash register. This used to be tolerated. Now it triggers a fine of up to 2 million rubles for a company, equipment confiscation, and an upcoming criminal liability. This post explains how registration in Russia's industrial miners registry actually works, who is obligated to register, what penalties apply, and how we (NODA) handle this process for our clients.

How we got into the registry — our own experience

Before explaining the process, here is proof that we walked the path ourselves. This is our official notification from the FNS:

Confirmation from the FNS mining registry: LLC NODA, record number 7102500001895, registered on 06 August 2025.

From that day, we are a resident of the registry. We receive BTC legally, report mining output to the FNS, and our clients hosted on the site get registered through our streamlined path.

What the registry is and why it appeared

In August 2024 Russia legalised mining for the first time — Federal Law №221 of 08 August 2024. Before this law, the industry lived in a grey zone: mining was technically possible, but income was hard to declare formally, banks were afraid to accept payments, and law enforcement could seize equipment "pending clarification". The new law closed this vacuum — and introduced the concept of the "industrial miners registry".

In parallel, the Government issued Decree №1464 of 31 October 2024, setting the rules for the registry. The registry is maintained by the FNS via a dedicated portal at rmo.nalog.gov.ru. The principal author of the law is Anatoly Aksakov, chair of the State Duma's Financial Market Committee.

In plain language. Before the law, mining in Russia was like a moonshine still in a Soviet-era garage: everyone had one, no-one was arrested, but you couldn't sell the product through legal channels. The registry is your way out of the garage: you say "I mine", you pay taxes, and the state recognises your bitcoin as a legitimate asset, comparable to shares or fiat on a bank account.

Digital currency is now property. What this means in practice

The law recognises cryptocurrency as "an object of civil rights". Behind this legal phrasing is a concrete consequence: bitcoin can be the subject of transactions, you can gift it, sell it, inherit it, value it as property in bankruptcy proceedings — and taxes apply.

In plain language. Before, bitcoin was, from the state's point of view, like a chocolate wrapper: something seemed to exist, but legally it was unclear whether it was a thing, a right, or an illusion. Now it is like a painting or a watch: an object with an owner, a price and a tax base. Mining is treated as income in non-cash form — as if you had been paid in grain or firewood. The value is determined by the market rate on the day of receipt.

The tax base is the Central Bank exchange rate on the date the bitcoin is received, multiplied by the quantity.

Who must register (and who is exempt)

• Legal entity (LLC, JSC) — any volume, even 1 ASIC. Registry is mandatory.
• Individual entrepreneur (IE) — any volume. Registry is mandatory.
• Individual, up to 6,000 kWh / month — no registry required, income reported via the regular 3-NDFL declaration.
• Individual, above 6,000 kWh / month — must register as IE or LLC and join the registry.

In plain language, with examples.

• One Antminer S21 Pro consumes 3,510 W × 730 hours ≈ 2,560 kWh/month. A hobbyist with a single unit in a garage lives quietly as an individual, without registry. Income is reported via the regular 3-NDFL personal tax declaration.
• Two S21 Pro — about 5,120 kWh/month, still within the limit.
• Three S21 Pro — about 7,680 kWh/month. The 6,000 limit is crossed. The individual has two paths: either register as IE (or LLC) and join the registry, or sell one unit and stay under the threshold.
• The trick of "registering the farm on a spouse and two children" does not work. The FNS looks at the connection address and total consumption at that point — not at the surname of the account holder.

A grey farm "at a neighbour's basement" legally becomes illegal entrepreneurship — with fines and the risk of a visit from law enforcement. More on that below.

Where mining is banned: "Black List 1860"

In December 2024 the Government issued Decree №1860 — the list of regions where mining is prohibited.

• Full ban until 2031: Dagestan, Chechnya, Ingushetia, Karachay-Cherkessia, Kabardino-Balkaria, North Ossetia, parts of DPR / LPR.
• Seasonal ban during the winter peak period: Irkutsk Region, Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai.

In plain language. The logic here is not "we hate crypto" but pure infrastructure. These regions have a household electricity deficit. A miner enters the common grid, and at −30 °C a pensioner in Irkutsk gets a substation outage instead of heating. The regions decided it was easier to ban mining than to monitor who consumes how much.

Perm Krai is not on the list — mining here is legal and free of seasonal restrictions. Our site is in the Ust-Kachkinskoe rural settlement of Perm Krai, on our own gas generation. If your equipment currently sits in a banned region and operates "quietly", that is a short-term strategy. We transport equipment to our site and arrange turnkey hosting (NODA mining hotel). For B2B investors there is the turnkey datacenter format — a dedicated site on our own generation, from 1 MW.

Step-by-step registration in the FNS mining registry

This is the standard path described by the FNS itself in their brochure. If you do it yourself, you repeat the steps below. If you host equipment with us, we do it for you.

Step 1. Find the "MiningRegistry" service on the FNS website. On the main page of nalog.gov.ru go to "Services" and find the "MiningRegistry" entry. The service is also available directly at rmo.nalog.gov.ru — this is the single point of entry to the industrial miners registry.

Step 2. Log in to the "Miners" section using an electronic signature. You need an enhanced qualified electronic signature (UKEP) of a legal entity or IE. In simple terms, this is the "digital passport" of your company — without it you cannot log in. UKEPs are issued for free by the FNS certification centres for the head of an organisation.

Source: FNS brochure "Mining of Digital Currency", rmo.nalog.gov.ru.

Step 3. Confirm contact details. After authorisation, the service asks you to confirm email and phone. Check the signature owner data shown on screen — it must be your actual organisation, not a shell.

Step 4. Create an application. In "My applications" click "Create application". You confirm consent to personal data processing and basic details of the legal entity or IE — most fields are auto-filled from the state registers EGRUL / EGRIP.

Step 5. Complete the six stages of the form. The application is split into 6 stages: miner details → beneficiaries (people who actually receive the income — sometimes co-owners of the legal entity, sometimes relatives) → equipment hosting addresses → preparation for submission → signing → processing status.

Step 6. Sign with UKEP and submit. After submission the application is assigned a unique ID and the service displays the status "Receipt received". This means your filing has been accepted by the FNS for processing.

The review takes up to 10 working days. You then receive a PDF extract from the registry, similar to the notification shown at the top of this post.

How we handle this for our clients

When equipment is hosted with NODA, registration in the mining registry is part of the hosting package. What we cover:

• Preparing the document package for the client.
• Filing via our legal channels and UKEP — the client does not need to obtain an electronic signature.
• Submission via the FNS personal account.
• Status tracking until the extract is issued.

Timeline: 1–2 working days instead of the standard 10. This is part of the "single accountability loop" we wrote about in our manifesto.

Taxes and reporting for registry participants

From 1 January 2025 Federal Law №418-FZ is in force — it amended the Tax Code with rules for mining (new Article 282.3). The essentials:

• Legal entities: general taxation regime (OSNO) only. Profit tax 25% on the calculated value of mined cryptocurrency, minus documented expenses (electricity, rent, equipment depreciation).
• IE (individual entrepreneurs): OSNO only. Mining income is taxed under a special progressive NDFL scale (5 brackets — see below). Tax base is income minus documented expenses.
• Individuals: the same 5-bracket NDFL scale applies. Expenses for an individual without IE status are deductible only on a limited basis.

Special NDFL scale for mining income (Article 282.3 of the Tax Code):

• Up to RUB 2.4 million per year — 13%
• RUB 2.4–5 million — 15%
• RUB 5–20 million — 18%
• RUB 20–50 million — 20%
• Above RUB 50 million — 22%

The scale is progressive — the higher rate applies only to the portion of income above the previous threshold, not to the entire amount.

• Special tax regimes are prohibited. USN, AUSN, ESHN, NPD cannot be applied to mining — the law explicitly excluded mining from the list of activities eligible for special regimes. An IE on PSN may carry out mining, but mining income is taxed under regular NDFL, not under the patent.
• VAT: not paid. The law explicitly placed mining outside the scope of VAT — it is neither a good nor a service, but a separate type of activity.
• Reporting: monthly the miner reports mined cryptocurrency and identifier addresses to the FNS. These data are also visible to Rosfinmonitoring — the body that monitors money flows under Federal Law 115-FZ.

In plain language. You received BTC on 1 April — check the CBR rate on that date, multiply by quantity, record as income. Whether you sell it later or not, the tax is already calculated. If you later sell at a higher price, you pay tax only on the difference — like with shares. There is no VAT at all: mining is legally placed outside its scope.

Important note for those who planned to operate under USN. Before 2025, many miners opened LLCs under the simplified regime (6% or 15%) and expected the tax load to stay there. From January 2025 this is no longer possible: mining is excluded from the special-regime list. If your legal entity is currently on USN and part of revenue comes from mining, you need either to split activities (move mining to a separate OSNO entity) or to switch the company to OSNO entirely. This is a non-trivial restructuring — discuss it with your accountant in advance.

What you risk for illegal mining

This is the section many readers come here for. As of May 2026 the picture is the following.

In plain language. Previously a grey miner was, at worst, asked to pay NDFL. Now you can be fined an amount comparable to the cost of a couple of containers, have equipment confiscated, and eventually face prison time. And this is not "in theory" — law enforcement is already visiting grey farms following tip-offs from energy providers and Rosfinmonitoring.

Frequently asked questions

Can I mine without the registry if I have one ASIC at home? Yes, if you are an individual and your total consumption stays below 6,000 kWh per month. One S21 Pro fits within this limit with room to spare. Income is reported via the standard 3-NDFL declaration.

How much does registration cost — is there a state fee? The registration itself is free. Costs include the UKEP issuance (free via FNS for the head of an organisation), accounting support and, if needed, legal assistance. When hosting with NODA we cover these steps as part of the hosting package.

Can I register retroactively for BTC already mined? Retroactive registration is not allowed. But you may declare already-mined BTC in your tax return for the period before registration — this removes the tax claim, although it does not eliminate the administrative risk for unregistered mining. Discuss the specific scenario with a lawyer.

Can I mine under USN or PSN? No. From 1 January 2025 mining is excluded from the list of activities eligible for USN, AUSN, ESHN and NPD (Law 418-FZ). Legal entities and IEs can carry out mining only under OSNO: 25% profit tax for companies; for IEs and individuals — a special 5-bracket NDFL scale (13/15/18/20/22% depending on annual income, Article 282.3 of the Tax Code). An IE on PSN may still mine, but mining income is taxed under this NDFL scale, not under the patent.

Can I use a foreign legal entity (Cyprus, UAE, Kazakhstan)? If equipment is physically located in Russia — no. The law is tied to where the computations take place, not to the jurisdiction of the company. A foreign legal entity plus a Russian farm is the classic "grey scheme" that the new liability framework targets.

What counts as "cloud mining" and is registration required? If you purchase hashrate from an external provider and you do not physically mine anything yourself, this is an investment, not mining. The registry is not required. Income is reported as ordinary investment income.

What should I do if my equipment sits in a banned region? Transport it. Or stop mining. The law offers no third option. If you need a site in a permitted region with ready infrastructure — we are in Perm Krai.

Host with us — and we take care of the registry, taxes and reporting. Request a specification and ROI calculation — submit a hosting enquiry, email contact@nodagroup.ru, or message us on Telegram via @nodasalesbot. If you want to first pick hardware, our catalogue has 15 ASIC and GPU server models with ROI calculations.

Announcements of upcoming posts on regulation, hardware and gas-fired energy are published in our channel @nodagrid. The next deep dive: how we compute the BTC break-even price on our own gas generation versus the grid tariff.