Russia's largest bank, Spirbank, has asked its client to provide information on its income from coded currencies, according to the Russian version of Forbes magazine on May 17.
Vladimir Smirkis, co-founder of the encrypted forex trading platform Toxenbox.io, told Forbes that the unnamed client received a letter from Spirbank asking for disclosure of encrypted currency earnings. The letter was based on his request in accordance with Federal Law No. 115, "On Combating Money Laundering and the Financing of Terrorism". The client has reportedly already informed the Bank of its income from the encrypted currency exchange.
In particular, Spearbank wanted to know the address of the client's encrypted currency portfolio, what mining equipment the customer used (including their mining plant model and parameters) and the rate of haas.
The Bank has also requested documents proving the ownership or lease of mining equipment, as well as the buildings that comprise the farm. Spearbank later confirmed the information, according to Forbes.
We are very concerned about how Sperbank can act on terms that are not yet in Russian law," Smirkis said. "This is not a new type of demand," said Artem Tolkatchev, founder and executive director of the decentralized system of decentralized exchange, saying: "Spearbank is working within its regulatory framework to deal with cash, so it is a way to monetize the currency that is legally encoded in circulation."
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said on May 16 that the regulation of coded currencies was not a priority for the Russian government, as encrypted currencies were losing popularity. Medvedev noted that the problem was given more attention in a previous forum in May 2018, urging the government to legislate some of the terms of the basic encrypted currency at least. The prime minister concluded that although the hype surrounding the BTC, the currency markets could continue to rise.