Bitcoin Forum

The subsidiary bank of the state corporation VEB Globex together with the Russian Association of Crypto and Blockchain (RACIB) and the CrowdHub Internet project are creating a system for protecting investments in Russian ICOs. The system will start working this year. 

Read more here: https://steemit.com/crypto/@cryptohumster/new-platform-to-offer-protection-of-crypto-investments-in-russia

To tell the strory short the platform will control funds collected on ICO. ICO team will receive funds in portions when they meet milestones. If a project fails all unspent funds are distributed back to investors. Groups of investors will decide if the team fullfils promises.

I personally think that introducing some regulation is a good idea. I also like that the project is driven by both comunity and state bank. But any idea has its cons and pros.

pros:
- Protection from scam projects. As the team doesn't get all the money at once they will need to have a good progress to get funds.
- Protection from fishing. Investment is done on the platform, scenarios with fishing mails like bee token story can't happen (or at least less likely)
- Investors get some control over the project
- Overall process becomes more transparent

cons:
- Crypto is about decentralisation, this platform looks centralised
- Funds will be controlled by platfrom so it can be hacked like an exchange
- It is not clearly explained how projevt reviewer will be elected and rotated. Corruption is a big problem in Russia
- The platform will give too much control for the state over ICO

So what do you guys think? Is it a good idea that can possibly be adopted all over the world or it will fail eventualy?

I strongly support his system because it can protect investors from scam projects. But I do not agree if the funds are fully held by the platform, because it will only hinder the progress of the project.

We have not been able to ensure that this platform is suitable for use around the world. We see them, whether the platfom is successful or not.

I agree, the fact that funds collected on ICO are stored on the platform is not good. People will not like it. It would be better if they found a way to freeze money on your own wallet with some smart contract and send them in portions when comunity approves the progress. But I'm not sure if it is technically possible.

Anyway it is good that there is some movement and discussion on this. We will see how it goes.

The plan they are doing is really great, and i admire the brain of this.
But i hope this is all about protection of the people and not controlling the project,
no price protection too! as cryptocurrencies price are based on the demand of the people and can not be dictated and hold by any government or banks.

It is true that Russia needs to regulate new ICO, requiring more regulation.
I have invested in a lot of ICO projects, but most of the ICO projects from Russia have fallen below the issue price, so I think the ICO system in Russia may need to be changed greatly.

It would not have turned out as always: the idea is great, the performers are conscientious, but something always prevents to create the system so that no one was hurt in the future. I'm just afraid of the possibility of state control and regulation in cryptography, ICO.

Good governance is something a state owned bank (that nearly got bankrupt) and a poor platform know nothing about. I don't see much clarity in how the fund distribution is going to be governed. Token holders should be voting, not some "investors". Voting mechanism must be on smart contracts for each token. This initiative is yet another example of trying to apply old approaches to a completely new field. Crypto must be about decentralizing!!!

I think it's an excellent system of protection, Russia is confirming one of the few countries that supports the cryptocurrency sector

I think it is better to have a regulation regarding ICO, besides they will only regulate it during ICO and once the distribution is done it is not already regulated to make sure there is no scam that will happen on the investors. With or without regulation it is still prone to hacking, i believe they already assume it that i could happen an they will provide a better security feature on their platform.

According to statistics on Rissian projects in 2017:
25% of all projects didn't make it to ICO stage
67% didn't raised softcap
5% raised money on ICO but then the project was put on hold
3% Fulfilled promises

So yes, I agree with you. The quality of ICO projects must be improved.

we know that the bureaucracy in government is like what, any matter is always difficult, even deliberately they make it difficult. may have to be considered again and must find a solution so that funds are not stored by the platform.

we appreciate the steps taken by the government and we always support it, but they must also listen to the aspirations of its citizens.

The thing I like is that smth is happening at all. If the idea will fail, russian crypto comunity will get experience. It will also boost the descussion of crypto world in russian society.

As for participants, I personally have some trust in Russian Association of Crypto and Blockchain (RACIB). These guys play a role of devil's advocate for cryptocurrency in all governmental discussions.

Who are these group of investors who'll decide whether it's a fail or not? who is to say project reviewer won't push for his own favorite ico? It's a good process to some regulation in but I don't see how this is going to be a success in long term. However, I think some countries will start following their footsteps if this become a success.

I think it's a beautiful idea, because of protecting from scam every day rise more and more, and we need such, but the other side this project is staying opposite the idea of decentralised cryptocurrency, and while we will be protected from scam somebody will count our money and also will be able to hack us inside this system if something will seem unlawfully. And gov may use it not in our poles, you understand it?

I agree with you on the pros and cons.

I see regulation of crypto as inevitable.
On a philosophical level, I believe the world has become too globalized to ever allow any fully decentralized powerhouse to exist.

A lot of ICOs that are scams, fail projects, or shitcoins seem to be from Russia (Or a russian team located in a different country).
So a means to protect investors is great.

however, one thing I want to add is how relevant will this be in the future if its only for ICOS?
This last year and this year is a complete ICO bubble that will eventually pop.
While ICOs won't disappear as smart contracts are an essential part of the crypto world now, this mad rush of ICOs and money won't last forever.
I suppose a lot of what they do for ICO investors can be applied to crypto as a whole though.

ICO investments are going in a really nice way. This will make crypto coin market more popular.
Scam projects are really hurting the market.

That's the right question! So far any side hasn't provided any paticular information. We know it will be users of the system i.e. people who invest in ICO. They aolso will be rotated, so the project is not reviewed by the same people all the time. But nothing mentioned how these people will be chosen.

Taking into account the fact we are talking about Russia I can make a guess. I believe that it would partly major investors, partly people connected to the platform owners and partly people chosen from comunity. I think we can expect some manipulation or curruption scenarios here.

If I would design such platform myself, I would form such team from well know experts from different fields. The team would need a blockchain developer who can check project comits on github, economist to check economic model, lawyer to check legal activities and etc. otherwise their decisions will be questionable. I also think that these people must be well rewarded and at the same time hold responsibility for their decision. Like in some blockchains with PoS nodes signing transaction reserve coins and lose them if it was incorect move to cheat the network.

This is a very good step, on the part of the creators of such legal norms and rules for ICO projects. It is also very good that it is in Russia, as so many projects are being created in this country. I hope this can feel safe when investing in projects.

Honestly that needs a simple and complex thing to secure investors from scammers in icos. The icos team must need to complete KYC verification before they will be doing an ico and then they must be registered all of their real personal data to the regulators. It's more than enough to protect investors. It's simple if they are making it so easy to do. But all system related to the bank looks centralized.

Actually it is not that easy. The problem is that there are no laws so far. So if somebody stoles your ETH on scam ICO, you can't really go to police for help. Until the government step in to punish scamers the only thing that can be done is self regulation. I believe this platform represents attempt of comunity to regulate itself.

Sounds like ICO investments in russia will soon come to its end,if this will be implemented most of the russians wont have any freedom.Doing this will only destroy's decentralization of cryptocurrencies,its just like they want these ICOs to be handled by the government which is not a good idea,because it will be morelikely  these ICOs will be centralized investments.

I don't think so. I talk a lot with people here in Russia who have money but don't invest in cryptocurrency. The main reason is that it is extrimly risky and not transparent. You send your money to some company and have no guaranties at all that they will actually work on the project. They can take your money, close their site and social accounts and go spent the money on themselves. And you can't do anything. And the key point is that this fear is actually based on statistics. Most ICO projects are scam.

The only centralisation here is that ICO wallet will be opened on a centralized platform, but approved payments will still be sent to wallet controlled by ICO team anyway.

Don't undersatand comment about freedom. USA and China ICO bans are totally against freedom, but this one doesn't restrcit anything. And by the way it is a private paltform and nobody pushes you to hold your ICO there. it is just a way to tell your potentional investors that your project is not scam.

It's a very good sign that Russia has really embraced the crypto. Unity of bank and crypto community signifies acceptance of cryptocurrency and it's a better solution to prevent those scammers to steal money from investors.

Yes, it is a very major change. A year ago every government official that mentioned crypto was proposing ban. Now they speak about regulation and protecting investors from scam projects.

Protecting ICO investors is something that should protect investment from scam. I am very glad that now at least somebody started to develop such a project.

This is a good news, the Russian government to develop a new system to protect investors against fraud, this is a better solution, but it will also become centralization for tokens, I doubt that.

Any step in the direction of recognition by the official authorities of the Crypto-currency is positive. Whether the project you specify or not will not be easy to say. The most important thing in this news is that the authorities realize that they will have to put up with the fact that the crypto world is growing and replacing the classical currency

Hey, there is a special section of this forum,where you can discuss news.
Speaking about legislation, there is a good step forward against scam projests. On the other hand, even Russian ICO can choose another country to run project on other jurisdiction and that is not so difficult.

It is not government, it is comunity and business. Basically the government still fails to provide full set of laws required for cryptocurrency. So comunity and business took a step forward to provide self regulation. And it is good that state bank is in. It shows government approval of the project.

China, Korea and the US have simply restricted access or even banned participation in ICO, but Russia has decided to develop protection against the scam, and this is very reasonable. I did not expect such a decision from the Russian Federation

Now there is an extension for browsers that block questionable fraud sites and phishing links, but I have never seen such a large project. I hope he will be released soon.

I myself often meet such ICO security questions on the forum, because this is the threat to the crypto community. The system of regulation and relative control must exist

It is not possible to predict the future of crypto in Russia. There is a strong lobby for cryptocurrecncies. Monistry of finance littery suggest to create special zones in 2russian cities where crypto will be fully legalized with no taxes. Everyone will be able to register crypto bussiness there and so on. At the same time central bank sees a threat to banking system and promotes ban of cryptocurrencies. Yes even central bank doesn't want to ban ICO.

Actually I have been think governments to take further measures to regulate encryption in the money market is a good thing, because it means that acknowledged encryption monetary market is legitimate, but they also don't want to ban encryption currency market, they only want to tax on the whole market.