Russia adds miners’ IP addresses to federal crypto registry

Russia’s Finance Ministry approved rules requiring legal crypto miners and mining infrastructure operators to record network IP addresses in registries run by the Federal Tax Service.

The requirement formalizes a government resolution and expands the information that registered entities must provide. Registration has been mandatory under Russia’s 2024 digital asset law for entities that operate legally as miners or as infrastructure providers.

The Federal Tax Service maintains separate registries for miners and for mining infrastructure operators. Access to the registries is limited to state bodies, courts, the Central Bank of Russia and regional power grid operators. No part of the registries is public.

The additional IP address data supplements business identification details with a network-level identifier that can be used to cross-check declared operations against online activity. The Finance Ministry said the update is intended to improve monitoring of financial risks, regulatory compliance and energy consumption linked to mining.

Entities that submit inaccurate information, violate antitrust rules or commit other breaches face immediate removal from the registry. Removal withdraws the legal right to operate mining equipment under Russian law, which generally prohibits unregistered mining.

Estimates of tax losses from informal mining are about $122 million. Russia accounted for an estimated 16.4% of global hashrate, roughly 175 exahashes per second, by early 2026. Ten energy-stressed regions have imposed regional bans on crypto mining.

Registry administrators keep the system closed to public access and allow only approved state institutions to request registry data. The Federal Tax Service will receive and enforce the expanded data under the updated rules.