The rapid spread of cryptocurrencies has led to fierce discussions around the world about the need for government control and regulation of this area.
Proponents of state regulation have rightly pointed out that the uncontrolled use of cryptocurrencies offers a wide range of opportunities for money laundering and terrorist financing. In addition, the lack of state control exposes counterparties to the risk of fraud in cryptocurrency transactions.
Tax considerations are not the last argument for introducing control. Bitcoin transactions have been known to generate hundreds of percent of the income to their owners over the past year, but they are all tax havens.
The main problem with cryptocurrency regulation today is that it is impossible to clearly identify the beneficiary of transactions and to verify, cancel or delay individual transactions within the system. In fact, today there are no personal wallets attached to a natural or legal person. Technical regulation within the system at the level of algorithms is also impossible, at least today.
The first possible point of control is mining, i.e. the production of cryptocurrencies on computers. Today, mining is actively used by various companies in the European Union to avoid profit tax according to a simple scheme: servers (in fact, "mining farms") are put on the balance sheet of the company, costing from one million euros and consuming electricity, conventionally speaking, about 100,000 euros per month. All expenses are written off to business expenses, in fact, for 12 calendar months such a farm "extracts" cryptocurrencies for 3-4 million euros, which are not taxed.
The only way to stop this practice is to impose penalties for illegal mining. At the same time, it is necessary to recognize mining as a separate economic activity, and perhaps even to provide miners with preferential tariffs for electricity in exchange for official registration, reporting on the results of work and payment of taxes.
Obviously, there will be some technical leaks, loopholes, etc., but the only alternative to official recognition of mining can only be a complete ban on it. And it is simply impossible to ban mining, especially if it is distributed, when each personal computer can generate 10-20 dollars a month - for this purpose it will be necessary to ban all personal computers. At the same time, providing work opportunities for registered mining farms will attract a lot of foreign investment to Russia. At a glance, from China alone, $10-15 billion can be invested annually in Russian mining farms.
The second point of contact of the world with the real economy is cryptocurrency exchanges. In fact, these are centralized platforms that combine supply and demand for cryptocurrencies against classical currencies. Up to 80% of all Bitcoin-to-dollar conversions take place through cryptocurrency exchanges. Therefore, the regulation of these exchanges is the most important point that will allow tracking the origin and movement of cryptocurrencies flows. In order to control cryptocurrency exchanges, it is necessary first of all to introduce identification of sellers and buyers of cryptocurrencies.
The most difficult aspect of cryptocurrency transactions to control is direct transactions from purse to purse. Today, such transactions are conducted anonymously and without reference to the source of the money. Similar schemes are used to sell cryptocurrencies for cash. Physically, it looks like meeting two people with laptops in a restaurant. The direct transaction from the wallet to the wallet lasts about 40 minutes, after which the buyer of the cryptocurrency gives the seller the cash dollars.
It is almost impossible to introduce direct total control over such transactions, but if the bulk of transactions with the cryptocurrency is transferred to a legal exchange and all mining is also transferred to the "white format", then after a couple of years there will be no Bitcoins left in the world who would not have gone through the system of state control. This will make it possible to determine with a high degree of probability all the "ways" of cryptocurrency movement and its conversion into real money.
Before that, the existence of a shadow market of cryptocurrencies will have to be tolerated within two or three years, stimulating the transition of its participants to the "white" market and collecting data on all bitcoin wallets. This may sound uncomfortable for the regulator, but this scenario can be considered the least evil.
One more sphere of operations with cryptocurrencies demanding the state regulation - ICO (Initial coin offering). As a matter of fact, this is a classic primary placement of securities, only placed not shares, and tokens, or a new cryptocurrency, which are paid not by dollars, and another cryptocurrency. Regulation of ICO is a complex problem from a legal point of view, as the nature of tokens does not correspond to the concept of shares. Accordingly, their placement cannot be covered by the securities legislation.