What a ridiculous title and a story itself, absolutely ridiculous, where do they get the information from to post such bold titles. Bitcoin is NOT banned in Russia, there is a warning to russians posted by central bank of Russia [1], warning is to notify people about dangers of using bitcoins, that's it! There is NO law that bans bitcoins in Russia, people are free to use if they want to, goverment is just warning you that it might be dangerouse.<p>Like smoking cigarettes, there is no law that bans you from smoking, but the health organizations are warning you that it can be dangerous for your health.<p>I am sick of this sort of stories which make to top of hacker news like the recent one by NBC about being "hacked" in Sochi [2] which was pathetically demolished by HN community [3]<p>[1]: <a href="http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_158121/" rel="nofollow">http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_158121/</a><p>[2]: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waEeJJVZ5P8" rel="nofollow">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=waEeJJVZ5P8</a><p>[3]: <a href="http://blog.erratasec.com/2014/02/that-nbc-story-100-fraudulent.html" rel="nofollow">http://blog.erratasec.com/2014/02/that-nbc-story-100-fraudul...</a>
From BTCE (google-translated from Russian)<p>Dear participants of the project BTC-e.com! In connection with decision-making in relation to the crypto-currency in Russia working with Qiwi suspended indefinitely, as well as with other payment systems in Russia. All financial obligations will be met in full without the means available additional commissions. encourage you to use the system okpay (USD, EUR), interest on the conclusion on it is reduced to zero. apologize for any inconvenience. Sincerely support btc-e.com
The source appears to be the Russian Government[1]<p>[1]: <a href="http://genproc.gov.ru/smi/news/genproc/news-86432/" rel="nofollow">http://genproc.gov.ru/smi/news/genproc/news-86432/</a>
"It's still the same warning. no more, no less" <a href="https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=452894.msg4990618#msg4990618" rel="nofollow">https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=452894.msg4990618#ms...</a>
It's my understanding that this isn't about Bitcoin per say but a general law that makes it illegal to transact in any foreign currency unless you are a bank licensed for Forex. USD and EUR and similarly not allowed.
Do they have a new source for this? It reads remarkably like the single story posted yesterday which someone suggested could be the result of speculators spreading misinformation through hackery or otherwise.
Could someone please ELI5 if I was a very wealthy Russian criminal involved, say, in counterfeit, drugs, human trafficking and/or technological scams, how exactly can bitcoin help me "launder" my wealth?
I would think with Russia and China banning BitCoin, it would make the currency more valuable. This seems counter intuitive to how the BTC market responding by crashing after the Chinese announcement.<p>Does BTC follow the same economic principles as standard currency. Such as your basic supply/demand, when supply goes down, demand goes up and price goes up. Or is it immune to such things?<p>Just curious. . .
Well, I understand why the Russian government is doing this. I don't have much confidence in the Ruble and am pretty sure I am not the only one. So BTC might be a viable alternative. An alternative that the Russian government has no control over.