The post Crypto Mining Faces Scrutiny After Russia Proposes New Penalties appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Key Insights: Russia plans fines for illegal cryptoThe post Crypto Mining Faces Scrutiny After Russia Proposes New Penalties appeared on BitcoinEthereumNews.com. Key Insights: Russia plans fines for illegal crypto

Crypto Mining Faces Scrutiny After Russia Proposes New Penalties

4 min read

Key Insights:

  • Russia plans fines for illegal crypto mining, increasing legal risk even in low-cost power regions.
  • Bitcoin hashrate is down 13%–15% from late 2025, showing many mining machines are already offline.
  • Only large, efficient crypto mining firms can survive rising costs and tighter regulation.

Bitcoin mining is again under pressure, but not for the reason most people usually expect. BTC prices have not collapsed overnight, even though we have come back to the late 2025 levels. There has been no sudden panic in the market. What is happening instead is slower and more uncomfortable.

Some new crypto mining rules are surfacing. A proposal from Russia this week brought that reality back into focus. On its own, the move may look local. But mining does not work that way.

Changes in one large energy region often end up affecting the network as a whole, especially when miners are already operating on thin margins. Read on to understand what’s happening!

Crypto Mining Faces New Resistance

Earlier this week, lawmakers moved to tighten control over cryptocurrency mining. On Jan. 20, 2026, a State Duma deputy (Russia-specific) put forward a draft bill that focuses on mining activity carried out without proper approval.

Proposed fines in the draft bill:

For individual miners: 100,000 to 150,000 rubles (about $1,000 to $1,500)

Public officials: 300,000 to 800,000 rubles (about $3,000 to $8,000)

Companies: 1 million to 2 million rubles (roughly $10,000 to $20,000)

    Repeat offenses would cost more.

    Russia has attracted crypto miners over the past few years mainly because of power costs. Certain regions offered electricity prices low enough to make mining viable even when margins elsewhere collapsed. Cheap power could matter way less now that they are stressed!

    Crypto Mining Machines are Already Going Offline

    Bitcoin hashrate has been slipping for a while now. This number shows how many machines are actually running and helping keep the network alive.

    Back in October 2025, that number was very high, sitting above 1.15 zettahashes per second. Since then, it has slowly moved down. The total drop so far comes to around 13% to 15%, depending on the day you check.

    That change did not happen all at once. It built up over time as more machines went offline.

    Drop in Bitcoin Hashrate | Source: X

    Recent seven-day averages place hashrate closer to 977 to 1,002 exahashes per second, with some readings dipping even lower. They reflect real machines being powered down. This kind of drop usually happens quietly.

    Operators do not announce exits. They simply stop running hardware when the numbers no longer work. Crypto mining difficulty has followed the same direction.

    Out of the last eight adjustment periods, difficulty has moved lower seven times. Another drop, close to 4%, is expected around January 22, 2026. Current estimates place difficulty somewhere in the 139 to 148 trillion range.

    Lower difficulty helps miners who remain active. But it also confirms something else. Most mining exits are quiet. There is no announcement and no warning. The machines just get turned off.

    Post 2024, especially the BTC halving, miners began earning less Bitcoin for doing the same work. Doesn’t sound that profitable, does it! And things worsened a year later. Once costs crossed a line and profits nosedived, continuing to run made no sense. But that wasn’t the case for everyone.

    Only Efficient Bitcoin Miners are Holding On

    Not every Bitcoin miner is struggling the same way. Large and efficient operators are still running. Hashprice, which tracks crypto mining revenue compared to computing power, has improved by about 11% since late December. This improvement did not come from higher demand. It came from fewer competitors.

    Hashprice Connection | Source: X

    That is another sign smaller miners are leaving.

    Some public mining companies are still active. One example is NIP Group, a publicly listed mining company that operates across several regions. Toward the end of 2025, it reported producing about 151.4 BTC and runs close to 9.66 EH/s of capacity. Smaller Bitcoin mining firms do not have that flexibility.

    Source: https://www.thecoinrepublic.com/2026/01/21/crypto-mining-faces-scrutiny-after-russia-proposes-new-penalties/

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