Sberbank, Russia’s largest active bank currently has demanded from a client to disclose information about his dealings with cryptocurrency trading. More specifically, the bank demanded to know the man’s earnings from trading cryptocurrencies.
The owner of a local cryptocurrency exchange, Vladimir Smerkis announced to the Russian Forbes that Sberbank was using the federal law as an excuse to make this demand.
According to Smerkis, the law used was Federal Law number 115, which is about combating money laundering cases and terrorism financing. Smerkis also told Forbes that the client had already disclosed information about his earnings through cryptos.
What did Sberbank want exactly?
Sberbank’s demand was quite specific, it wasn’t your run of the mill “how much did you make” question. No, it was a fully fledged interrogation so to speak.
The bank demanded the client to tell them his crypto wallet address and the equipment he was using to mine cryptocurrencies, including the hash rate he was doing it with.
Smerkis commented on this predicament, mentioning how it was quite surprising to see the bank utilize laws within the Russian Federation that do not exist yet.
Yes, the bank does have some right to demand the source of the revenue, but it doesn’t have the right to demand to know the means that the client got it. Meaning that once Sberbank asked for the hash rate and the mining equipment, it was overstepping the boundaries of the local law.
Cryptocurrency regulation in Russia is not installed yet, and due to the fact that the Prime Minister is against the law completely, it may never be installed at all. Therefore it was unexpected to see Sberbank act so independently.
At the moment, cryptos in Russia are classified as “digital rights” and there is no country in the world that can justify taxing a right.
