Bitcoin Forum

According to a press release published by the Bank of Lithuania, “financial market participants should not engage in the sale of virtual currencies, provide conditions for customers to pay in payment instruments issued by them (e.g. debit or credit cards, etc.), execute any operations in virtual currencies, and also engage in their exchange or similar activities.” The statement also states that businesses “should not link their services to virtual currencies and create an impression that such services are supervised and subject to the same security standards as those applicable to financial services are.”

Well it's their loss. Funny that a European country is headed this way. It's becoming recognized here in Asia and governments are scrambling to get into the action. By restricting the entry of cryptos into the mainstream financial sector, they are letting tons of money out of their hands.

This news comes straight from Lithuania's central bank. China banning exchanges could also be influenced by bankers. Russia too implementing regulation on crypto could be bankers utilizing their influence to discourage crypto. A pattern is emerging which reveals bankers to be the main source of anti crypto regulation in the world.

For those who wondered how Catalonia's independence could have an affect on bitcoin's price. Catalonia being independent frees it from the influence of central banks and anti crypto policy which Lithuania and china are experiencing now.

The same could be said of brexit. The UK being freed from the european union represents a nation which has less chance of implementing this type of anti crypto regulation. In theory, anyway.

They're probably under the wrong impression about the whole anonymity part of Bitcoin. They probably suspect that it'll be used for more bad than good. I agree with you, though. I think any country that is trying to block out Bitcoin right now is making a mistake -- it's a move towards a more technologically based future which will happen regardless of if they ban bitcoin or not anyway. I think in the future, it's possible that they'll remove the warning.

True. It's the essence of cryptocurrency. If they'll ban bitcoins then bitcoin users would just go underground. If they try to monitor bitcoins to prevent criminal activities, people would just switch to monero or some newer alt.

Humans don't like feeling controlled. Most governments would probably come out with their own digital fiats to compete with bitcoins but even then, the better course of action is to integrate it into the formal economy.

Bank of Lithuania??? Lol! When JMP could not do anything to bitcoin, what Bank of Lithuania would do? I think they are just worried because they are probably loosing their business. They think that the money should have been channeled through them is now getting channelized through bitcoin. So they are loosing their share of the cake. But they are just a small time bank and they are expected to launch attack on bitcoin because bitcoin has created a parallel economy worldwide. So it is a normal course of action from their end. Can be ignored happily!

The banks in Europe are all integrated. They have a common currency. I doubt if the Bank of Lithuania's pronouncement are going to make any difference to the banks. They would have their standard controls in place to prevent money laundering through virtual currencies.

I do find it curious how little thought is given to the precariousness of banking relationships in crypto. Most banks I'm sure would rather not be having anything to do with it.

It really wouldn't take much for some of the banking hubs to reject crypto business and the entire scene takes an enormous hit. There's P2P of course but that's not going to replace what's here currently.

Yes you're going to hear banks discouraging financial institutions from dealing with virtual currencies because they are scared of Bitcoin and don't want to see it flourish.