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Hello, everybody  :)  This is my first post here.  I've been lurking around, waiting for an opportune moment to begin my contribution, and this opening does seem promising.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/29/technology/blockchain-iso-russian-spies.html (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/29/technology/blockchain-iso-russian-spies.html)

Title: Blockchain Will Be Theirs, Russian Spy Boasted at Conference
Author: Nathaniel Popper
Posted: April 29, 2018

tl,dr: The Russians sent one of their FSB [KGB] Agents to an International conference meant for setting international standards for blockchain. 'The Internet belonged to the Americans, the Blockchain will belong to us, he retorted.  Basically, the Blockchain will turn into the next arena for geo-political battles.  Essentially, "countries that devote more resources to the process could successfully push their preferred cryptographic algorithms to be the standards, potentially creating so-called back doors that could be used in the future to spy on blockchain activity."

Apart from being a total novice on this forum, I'm also an amateur when it comes to matters regarding Bitcoin and the Blockchain, so I'm eagerly awaiting your opinion on this news item that seems particularly relevant to both these topics.

As we know that the cryptocurrency is gaining popularity in people and its usage is increasing day by day as Russia is also against the popularity of us dollar which increases the prices of dollar and both countries are enemy so Russia will not bear the success of America which will provoke the hacker of Russia to cybercrime and hack the blockchain which may lead to crypto war.

I am just curious. Why do you think that other big nation Governments aren't doing exactly the same?
And also, why do you think there is any other purpose for you knowing it then promotion?

Actually 2 months before itself Russian prime minister Vladimir putin ordered their team to make the crypto legalization works before this May month has been ends so better side you can buy the bitcoin as much you can now.
THis will be goes to triple the value once they accepted as a legal currency there.
Who said Internet belongs to americans mate, it is useful and operating one for every people in the any country.

 They are probably not recognizing full potential of it, i mean other countries . Thing is that with many problems and opportunities in the world it is hard to spot real thinga. But taking into consideration that awareness is rising fast I guess Russia is doing what it has to do. Imagine if they don't try to ride this wave in the sea, what could happen? They could easily lose the game. Of they become powerfully with dictating it of course that they can set it up to be the way they want it to be. But as decentralized blockchains are they offer great features.

The Russians, specifically their 'Spies' in the Blockchain world feel that the Internet 'belongs' to the Americans; perhaps because of the possibility of introducing back-doors everywhere.

This is hilarious given that Americans were the ones that invented blockchain technology and bitcoin. It's widely known that both originated from Silicon Valley. The Russians are such followers!

And for one to effectively dictate blockchain's future they'd have to control a majority of the uses of blockchain technology. Maybe this guy is referring to a specific blockhcain (i.e., the Bitcoin blockchain or the Ethereum blockchain), but the way he's been quoted here it's clear that the Russians don't know what they're talking about.

Never underestimate the Russians!  Back in the Cold War era, there was little that they invented, yet they could present a formidable challenge to the West.

Sending a FSB [KGB] spy to an international meeting to standardise the Blockchain is just the underhand way in which they can leverage their influence beyond their 'miniscule' capabilities as You put it by calling them 'followers'.

The SHA256, yes, but we don't know who was the real inventor. I know about the rumors that CIA stood behind the creation of BTC, but I also heard rumors that the government blew up WTC towers to motivate the nation to support the war on terror.


That's right, they think they can take over something that is decentralized. Another example of the Russians biting more than they can chew, like that time when they were trying to make a better plane than the Concorde and it fragmented after takeoff killing the crew and its creator. ;)

your title is an exaggeration. they can affect the future of the blockchain technology but they can't dictate it.


the thing about blockchain technology is that it has always been open source and when something is open there for millions of people to see and a lot of people to review can not have any back-doors. even if it has, it will be found eventually. that's not something you can get away from.

the only thing you need to know is that blockchain technology is not something that one country can control. it is the technology that is open source and anyone who wants can get on board NOW and become the giants of tomorrow. for example you can see even small countries such as Venezuela are getting on board pretty seriously and they are even mass educating their population. these countries will become big in the blockchain technology in a couple of years. it won't just be Russia to dictate anything.

Today Russia announced good news about crypto's which can increase the value of bitcoin and other crypto's as well. Block chain future will rock soon and russia will be implementing soon which gives big boom in crypto world.

New York times = Wallstreet Bankster Hatred magazine

they have already started with their Bitlicense to create a new Banking Cartel

While I agree with you to some extent that the NYT has its own biases and prejudices; nevertheless, it is indeed a recognised premier source of authentic information. Also, it caters to a readership across the spectrum of views, so it does tend to present a consensus view.

My point in linking to this NYT article is my personal 'suspicion' that this article was written or 'planted' at the behest of official US government 'monitors', perhaps the Pentagon.

As such, it enables us to form a general idea of Washington's strategic approach to this matter.

It would seem that The New York Times has been a little off-base lately in their assumptions about Russia. I don't know, but this may be more of a political calculation than it is an objective news article. Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't it be more likely that this is a political piece?

Russian have shown a lot of interest in bitcoin and mostly the blockchain technology and they have been studying it for a long time now. they also said something about setting the industry standard for blockchain technology or something like that which this article has been using to exaggerate the situation and create some sort of drama out of it.

You are right. That's why I suspect it is planted by US intelligence/ the Pentagon.

The NYT is hugely influential, and especially so among the left, liberal types. When it publishes this kind of article, that's effectively a 'dog whistle'; a proclamation of the frame of reference from which to view Russian actions in this field.

As to how and why things led up to this stage, the reason why Russia is in the doghouse, so to speak, the Russians need to introspect on their flagrant violations of several issues dear to the West. Obviously, this debate is vast and beyond our scope here, but the point to note is that every Russian name now comes under suspicion, or should do so, per the NYT's dog-whistle.

Those running Blockchain stuff monetisation will need to pay heed if they wish to continue doing business in the US, and by extension, the Western world. Basically, the game of applying increasing pressure has begun, and now its entered our 'decentralised' Blockchain world.

Ironic that Bitcoin is dropping right now, hopefully lots of oligarchs decided to put their money into it before it started to plummet more recently. The blockchain has obvious flaws such as the 51% attack, which can give ownership over, but if that sort of abuse was ever detected then it would lose great value and be avoided even further. It is yet more delusional economic thinking coming from people who achieved very little. We already see countries like America and the EU debating whether to ban it entirely due to the huge amount of energy use, which is going to become ever more important as Russia is using energy as a weapon (which is going to effect them in equal measure).