Russia, with its thorny relationship with cryptocurrency, continues to have a patchwork approach to certain instances to do with digital currencies. The latest instance of this has come as a Russian publication was fined 50,000 Rubles ($750) for advertising cryptocurrency mining.
Russia is in the process of setting out its cryptocurrency laws and has recently delayed rolling them out, so in the meantime, there are a few instances of cryptocurrency appearances that are being punished sporadically.
The allegations against the mining advert was stated as being contrary to the current legal statutes that are governing cryptocurrency as its stands in Russia.
A financial services offering
The advert in question came from the publication Edinstvo Nizhnekamsk, which circulates in the Republic of Tatarstan, and was found in the country of advertising regulations by Eleventh Arbitration Court of Appeal.
The advert stated: “Investments in cryptocurrency. Bitcoin, Ethereum, Zcash. Assembly and setup of mining farms.” This was found to be problematic because of the interpretation of what it was offering.
“From the sense of the content of the aforementioned advertisement, it follows that Richard Timurovich Blumchen [the man whose phone number was attached to the advert] is offering financial services, and not consulting ones,” the Anti-Monopoly Service stated.
Mixed messages
Russia is one country that has pretty strict and stringent regulations when it comes to cryptocurrencies as they followed China’s lead and banned access to exchanges last year.
However, digital currencies are not banned and neither is mining or Blockchain, although there is sour sentiment around these aspects of the cryptocurrency space.
As such, there have been sporadic and unprecedented instances where cryptocurrency operations have faced the full force of the law, and this is the first of its kind for advertising.
Arman Shirinyan
Yuri Molchan
Alex Dovbnya
