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Bangladesh Bank just blocked credit, debit and prepaid card purchase / transaction on various video game websites like Steam, Origin, Blizzard and many other third party video games website. According to them, this order came from Bangladesh Bank itself because they think these sites are gambling / cryptocurrency websites LOOOOL. What kind of fucktards are running this country who can't distinguish video game websites from gambling websites ??

Those of us who have credit, debit, prepaid cards originated in Bangladesh, we're basically fucked. Today I tried to buy a game from steam and saw my card isn't working.

#Digital_Bangladesh :)

This is the mail I got from my bank today.

https://i.imgur.com/LJlLMg1.jpg

Many countries are taking more stringent restrictions to keep a large part of the money inside the country and from being disbursed to foreign bank accounts, so they ban some global services.
Do these applications have license to work in Bangladesh or headquarters? If they had a headquarters I don't think they would be banned.
Generally, the conditions that were set are incorrect and may be misunderstood. They do not have a clear definition of crypto currencies or foreign stocks. I would have expected a list of prohibited services to be included.

Contact them, as it may have been stopped by mistake.

Maybe it's because many video games these days have microtransactions built into them, which a lot of people (including gamers) think is akin to gambling.  If that isn't the reason, I sure as hell can't think of one. 

That might be your primary complaint, but based on that statement, buying crypto is prohibited as well.  That's not a good thing either. 

I'm not familiar with how banking works in Bangladesh.  Is Bangladesh Bank the ruling body with respect to banks, or is it just one bank among many in Bangladesh?  In the US, if my bank banned me from using my debit card to buy crypto/video games/whatever, I could just ditch them and open a bank account at another bank that didn't have those restrictions--unless it was a law and not a bank policy.  So could you clarify what the situation is in your country, OP?

It ia because of the first one- payments related to casinos/gambling, which was frowned upon long ago. All the gambling sites were banned by Mostofa Zabbar, nettelar, skrill was also banned for this reason. This has nothing to do with crypto I think although I believe that all that guys including Mostofa Zabbar are fucking retards. They don't have common sense that they can only create a false sense of banning them while it's impossible to stop gambling, it's impossible to stop crypto transactions.

So in essence the game of gambling is what made the Bangladdesh government oppose the existence of cryptocurrency in its country, well I think there are still some countries that prohibit cryptocurrency for fear of being misused or illegal acts that are increasingly widespread in their own country and now impact on card payments other games so that it creates a lot of polemic about this planning so fast.

Is the regulation also applies to other banks there? (as mentioned "In compliance with Bangladesh Banks").

If yes, then maybe there's another way to top-up credits at your preferred game developer. Surely, it wasn't limited to only bank payment. Try to check the payment methods.

If no, then try transferring to another bank. Processing debit and cards only take a few days in most of the cases. If you are worried that it won't be accepted too, try to borrow a card from your friends or related ones and check if payment will be successful. Of course, you have to pay them after lol.


It's not that they don't know the difference between a game website and gambling websites.

The regulatory is clear, "regarding to foreign currency transactions". Those video game developers you have mentioned are operating outside your country.

Well, they already banned cryptocurrency a long time ago and now any related to cryptocurrency, gambling, and video games are now banned too.
I understand that this country very strict on gambling since gambling is prohibited or against their religion. But I don't see video games purchasing is a form of gambling here, --sounds like they manipulated too much their citizen their and I hope this perhaps has a good output to them. Luckily I do not belong to that country.

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I think not only gambling, video games, or any transaction website. It is also included pornography websites they banned.
^{[ https://www.dw.com/en/bangladesh-anti-porn-war-bans-blogs-and-google-books/a-47684058 ]}

I contacted them, they said it was banned from the Central bank. Reasons are given on the main topic.

 
It is a good point they might overthinking this and comparing this with gambling that's why took these steps.


Actually in our country, while we created our account and card we agreed to the terms that we won't do any illegal things like gambling or buying crypto with that money. But purchasing games and other legal digital things was not part of those conditions. Suddenly they changed their minds and took these steps about this. As it is an order from the central bank I can't buy games with the cards of any other bank.

Most of the ministers in our higher authorities are illiterate that's why we are still a third-generation country and the government is doing these funny things on the suggestions of those illiterate people.

This is how regulation looks like if the regulators are not well-informed or, worse, misinformed of certain aspects of that which they are regulating. This is a perfect example of Garbage In, Garbage Out (GIGO) in the hard world.

The Bangladesh Bank must have been fed wrong information specifically about gaming sites such as Steam and Blizzard for coming up with such a ridiculous policy.

Well, they must have learned lessons from the infamous $81 million Bangladesh Bank cyber heist and are now implementing harsh policies.

They probably are recognizing that there are e-sports bookies and that's why they've considered your payment related to gambling. If there's an avid gamer of Steam, kindly CMIIW.

That there are casinos where you can use your Steam Wallet Code to fund your betting account. And that could be the reason why they are connecting your transaction to it. Why suddenly Bangladesh is like that? they compare crypto as buying lottery tickets and gambling. They should amend their law and be open with crypto investing.

You still have an option, buy gift cards of steam or transact P2P on the forum through an escrow for SWC with crypto.

I think that case has influence on having strict regulations with online gaming also. That multi-million dollar cyber heist is still one for the history books. Now, they are very careful to the point that they are not reasonable. I think if someone will brought that up, they will review that regulation again.

It's too strict that even forex is not allowed and foreign stocks is not allowed. This can also the reason they didn't want to accept any foreign apps or games that requires payment and card details for security as they experience a cyber heist last 2016 a huge lost that's their implementation and banning transactions were too insane. I guess any foreign transactions that includes card and bank details were totally ban after that heist. This should be a lesson to tighten their security against hackers and to improve their service, but the sad thing is that their people will also need to adjus or do other option like this.

Bangladesh Bank is the central Bank of Bangladesh. So, if Bangladesh Bank ask to follow something, they mist comply with that and as a result, no bank will now support gaming or gambling tx anymore. It has been a while authority is having worst time regulating this. Even they claim that with our regular local money transfer method Bkash is helping money laundering but they did not stop Bkash so far.

None would work as long as we are corrupted. There are a lot of option to top up this services, there are options to use crypto, there are options to gamble. I'm talking about this because we are corrupted and so does all of our authority is which is why $81 million was hacked. I believe some of our local authentic people were responsible for this and they were directly involved with this hacking trick.

They are not open with that Multi-million dollar cyber heist at all that's why our local bank wins the case and now filing a case against the Bangladesh Bank for ruining the reputation of RCBC. If they are trying to protect their people from the online fraud then I guess this is not the law that they needed. Its very unfortunate for a gamer to tagged as a gambler and using cryptocurrency now restricting them from buying staffs for their account. Bangladesh will surely regret this restriction especially on cryptocurrency if bitcoin made a huge pump and adopted by many countries, this is not the end for the gamer and the user of cryptocurrency.

It trickled down to everything that they think are somewhat related to crypto, but this is really not doing good for the country itself. Yes, they maybe hard to crypto, but credit cards? And then they throw out the "money laundering" card in the table to justify everything? Nah, something is not really right for Bangladesh. And they may be left out in the closet when the whole card are going digital or cashless now.

Lol! It shows why majority of the Asian countries are still counted as "under developed" or "developing" to the rest of the world! It's all about mindset of the people who are running (ruining) the country. Same story here in India where one-exam-wonder bureaucrats are actually seeing cryptocurrencies as a big threat to the economy. But I wonder why foreign stock market investment is banned if a resident is doing it through a registered stock broker. This makes no sense at all!

Even I receive weekly newsletters from my bank and inevitably it alwys has a mention of cryptocurrency and how bad it is for the economy and how hackers are using it to exploit the common mass. So Banks will continue to play this game and try to divert people's mind from the actual truth because they all see cryptocurrency as a threat to any centralized entity.

Good Luck! You may want to open a foreign bank account at this point! There are banks who offer such services but it only makes sense if you are holding a big amount of cryptocurrency.  

It is not that hard to differentiate gambling websites from gaming websites.

The difference is that in gambling websites, they are risking their money to earn more and lose more money. While in video game websites, gamers just want to improve their quality of playing that's why they purchase extra features to enjoy the game better. That's a very different platforms, and hopefully, Bangladesh government will study more about it before making decisions like that.

Probably, they do lack of information about how cryptocurrency regulates, about how it works in the market.


That's a huge disadvantage for you and to your community, even the crypto community who are relying in the use of their assets.

Addressing their mistakes and ignorance should be enlighten by the community.

Misinformation can really destroy a lot of opportunity especially when it comes to businesses. Bangladesh Government should take away their ignorance towards cryptocurrency, gaming, and gambling, and know the distinction between the three. This can really limit their economy to grow more and adapt on what is the use of digital currency. Steam are a huge third party platform that is using by those gamers and this is probably a huge loss for Bangladesh. I must say that they have a lot of work to do, such as researches and statistics so that they will know what they lack of.

Almost all the people who have seat on authority have no knowledge on cryptocurrency. I have seen a lot of reports on bitcoin and cryptocurrency and some interviews with the authentic persons but none of them were right. The only thing here I found right is a book written by Mostofa Tanim. He has shown how it can be a big benefit and why crypto doesn't necessarily mean a bad thing.

Can't you use different banks? Perhaps your bank is like a government bank or Islamic bank. Not sure how regulations there, but it is surely messed up if all banks behave the same.

No, my bank is not any government bank or any Islamic bank. They are a private bank ltd. But here all the banks have to maintain the rules from the Central bank which is Bangladesh Bank. So, all the banks are declining cards on those websites. Today saw the news that next week they will arrange a meeting and will discuss our issues with this rule. Hope for the best.

This is called paranoia by the government as they have no idea the restrictions they are implementing. There are options to overcome these restrictions, find a virtual credit card and hope it will be possible to fund those or use gift cards to carry on these transactions, what ever it may be it is stupidity by the banking sector to restrict gaming sites.

Yes, there's a connection that past incident. It's a huge sum of money and they're being careful this time. I understand them and it's easy to say because I'm not from that country but I also do understand the struggle of those citizens that doesn't have any evil thing on their minds but only want to enjoy the perks of transacting online.

The good news is that they can still have an option but if they find it too hassle, they have no choice but to adopt the norm and adjustment that they need to embrace.

Governments can block anything they want and I think they banned games because it is addictive not really as gambling even in Pakistan many games were banned just because of people complain that their kids are spending lot more hours on playing few games.If gambling and gaming is prohibited in your country then better fina a better place to live, no need to survive on such a shitty place.

Actually in 2014 I believe, Bangladesh banned all the dealings in cryptocurrencies and even stated that anyone who is found to be associated with BTC transactions might have to face some money laundering laws and might get jailed.

Any bank operating in their country would hence never appreciate crypto related services and payments and hence they are actually right to restrict users from doing those transactions. The change has to come from the government because when the government doesn't allow BTC to be legal then there is no way the banks can break their law and allow such transactions. Gambling has been long associated with crypto even if it is not as dominant in the field of gambling.

I totally agree with this!, Been living in Asia and you're right one of the problems here is the traditional mindset, I'm not telling that all countries here are like that but MOST are living traditionally and is not eyeing for better, it's like they are already get used to a stuff and they don't wanna replace it anymore, they are contented with what they have. Unlike in western countries like in Europe, the status of living in Europe is progressive, I can tell by the way they adopt every changes in any aspect. I guess minds of the people here are cultured, and we can't blame people why they are embracing it.


Now I really believe how many corrupt officials in the governments are, I see the bad side of bitcoin but just looking at it without getting a solution gets you nothing at all.

Changing places (countries) is not an easy thing, especially for common citizens with low income, it sucks but citizens can only wait for regulatory changes even though it is not a pleasant thing.

It is not going to be easy but it is going to be worth it, even if you are a common middle class person you can find a job on other countries if you have good education skills and experience and nothing is going to be changed overnight, everything will take time for sure.

I would say changing countries is not really the solution, making sure that governments realize they could not only take advantage of crypto by taxing people and getting richer as government, but also it would allow people to get money from other nations a lot easier so that they could bring in money to the country and making that country richer is also an important thing.

On one hand you are paying taxes for something legal instead of trying to hide it from government to do something illegal and not pay taxes, so obviously first one makes more sense, and also second one is if you promote it like India did with software and try to get more money from other nations you could bring in dollars to get yourself a lot richer as a nation thanks to all the influx of money coming in.

Don't blame government of your country. As far as i know, still now most of the people in BD are not familiar with crypto currency. And in this current situation government is not permitting gambling. For this reason, you got this types of mail from bank.

The bank prohibits you to use your credit card for using any crypto related purchases. From what I understand with the mail, they are just preventing some unregulated actions like crypto gambling purchases using your credit card.

Maybe, you have used your credit card before from buying some coins. Or they have detected your credit card has history of any crypto related purchase that's why they locked your credit card. It's just that, the moment you are about to buy video game products using it, they blocked it because their are tons of online games that can also buy some crypto in exchange of their gems/ products.

If no history of previous crypto purchased using your credit card, then they are just  following the order from BB regulatory requirements.

I can feel your resentment towards the Bangladesh government, because I will also be angry and upset when the government is in my country
do the same. Fortunately in my country there are no transaction restrictions on video game websites, but if I pay attention to the transactions
banned by Bangladesh bank, it turns out that there is a point "Foreign currency payment to purchase goods / services originate and sold in
Bangladesh". This means that the Bangladesh bank already know difference between video game websites and gambling websites, but it is
prohibited transactions in foreign currency, with developers video game websites from outside Bangladesh. That's why Bangladesh bank blocked
your transaction.

Oh come on man, why the heck they would prohibit Lottery ! For God sake, Lottery has to be their in every country. It's just a common man making out his luck in the daily life. What they were thinking while making those guidelines. In my country lottery is played like anything and let's not even think about US countries where these stuff is on the peak!

Lottery can be good way of earning taxes for government and still they go on banning it! And all you need is few bucks to be placed in lottery ticket, for that matter why would one ban whole card system. This is insane news to read and that too from qualified personnel.

I am sure that this country is lacking cryptocurrency regulation and that its people are vulnerable to losing money investing in the cryptocurrency market. Just like in my own country, a lot of people have filed complaints against scam crypto projects over the past year. They have lost a lot of money and they don't know how to get their money back by going to court but in the end, they still can't get their money because the law in our country doesn't have specific regulations yet. crypto.

Is this serious?just because they think those game are gambling they have just blocked the sites?without doing a formal investigation to prove their claims?

i believe  that those are only game provider because i use some of them,and there are no gambling happening not unless each individual who plays put some bets when they play and that is another story .

hoping they will reconsider the decision because there is fun in each game and only gamer can understand that.

Hmmm, I don’t think it’s only in Bangladesh that this kind of thing is happening because I got a message from my bank yesterday that I cannot spend more than $100 with bank card on foreign websites, but as for local transactions, there is no limit. So, I guess they are trying to keep the money in the country and avoid money laundering by all means.

But from this your bank post here, what I don’t really get is why they included forex and stock markets on the list of things that shouldn’t be paid for. And apart from that, gaming websites is not a bad thing, they shouldn’t stop people from paying for a game online.

Quite a number of countries are taking this step and its not only happening in Bangladesh. Its a simple straight forward regulation in other to protect both the economy and the citizens at large which is something that should be complied with. It did not remove the fact that some activities along the restricted areas won't be going on behind the scene but its only shows what the government is saying concerning certain subject matter. However, there is no need to be worried because policies can change at any time whenever there is an overriding reasons as to why that is to be taken.

Wow. This is insane. It seems like the Bangladesh government is living in the medieval times thanks to these restrictions from their side. How pathetic. Blocking gamers like this just shows that they want to control everything in their country.

I feel sad for the Bangladesh citizens who have to endure this crap going forward. I hope they reverse these restrictions soon.

For those who are new to the cryptocurrency sector, Bangladesh is the country which arrested cryptocurrency traders a few years back. They have always treated cryptocurrency similar to contraband. It will be wrong to assume that their stone age mentality regarding new technology would change anytime soon. For those who want the details of the old incident, check this:

https://www.thedailystar.net/backpage/news/police-arrest-3-cryptocurrency-dealers-1735429
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/currency/11097208/Why-Bangladesh-will-jail-Bitcoin-traders.html
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/crime/2018/02/19/police-hunt-bitcoin-users-bangladesh/

Holyshit man! I'm sorry to hear that.

Perhaps what you guys can safely do is to store some Bitcoin and wait for your country to change (because of globalization). But there is a riskier (and more rewarding) way that is trying to change the policy democratically. It's very tough, but you can use academics institutions to do this kind of debate. Let them know that KYC/AML compliance will solve the money laundering problem without stomping ordinary people from accessing new technology.

This is the behaviour that lends a premium to crypto and those already as holders within BTC because freedom is not free within many countries of the world.   I can sympathise with the logical process of Bangladesh government so long as they mean to go down the road of a communist era type authoritarian rule over its people deciding which is left and which is right and how every action should be, like a puppet they would like the define the world for their people perhaps.   Its a horrible way to run a country and the whole nation will be poorer struggling to react in any natural process but it wont the first or last time its attempted if that is what they mean to do.

they think that video games are simillar to gambling sites because both are addictive and people usually spend thier money to buy games from those said platforms and the games were expensive too on those sources but still its ours  money not them  .

you can transfer on other bank , not all banks will have a rule like that but check thier rules first and try the banks that are less strict .

The reason the Bangladesh government compares gaming to gambling and cryptocurrency is that gaming games are very expensive and in many countries they are considered illegal. No one can play them independently due to lack of legitimacy and the government does not get any money from now on. It has nothing to do with the bank so the government compares it to crypto. Although expensive everyone is willing to play as they please.

Games are created with the intention of making people get addicted to it then only they can make money out of it and most of the modern day games are making profits from in app purchases which maybe against in some country that is why they banned gaming along with gambling.Pick the leader who is enough to understand what it is really meant for if you want to enjoy it.

That was pretty odd to think that you can no longer use cashless transactions through your debit/credit cards to purchase video games online just because your government was thinking that such games found to be purchased online are accused to be crypto or gambling games. Beforehand, they must inform the public about such thing before doing the blocking of cashless transactions on purchasing video games online for many people specifically gamers are depending on cashless transactions specially at times like this that gaming stores are temporarily closed for they are located at malls and only essential stores intended for basic needs are operational.

They must have learn about differentiating crypto/gambling games from the typical video games because some video games or mostly can be bought or purchased online and such purchase is in need of money which basically cannot be considered as gambling because it is a payment for transactions and not a bet to be able to play the game. Before doing such thing they must have first clearly classified or distinct the different between crypto/gambling games and video games because many are entertaining themselves this quarantine through playing games to make themselves busy and to lessen the boredom brought by the lockdown.

It should be the choice of the user if he wants to get addicted to a game or not. Subscription-based games like WoW or Eve can be addictive but they can also be the source of entertainment and even allow people to meet new friends and build relations.

You can never stop people from becoming addicts. If they won't fall victim to computer games, casinos, oinline trading, they will become alcoholics or something else. This is pointless.

Your idea is correct that most of the people of BD are not well known about crypto currency and gambling. People of BD are losing money on these and that's why government is not accepting crypto currency and gambling.

The government through the central bank needs a financial analyst to explain to them in detail what this is. I am very sure they are trying to de-associate their financial system from any services that can indirectly be used with crypto. Here in my country, you cannot even use debit cards to buy anything from site that is international. They regulated international services that can be accessed through the card.

You mean to get a independent third party to help explain in detail what crypto is? I doubt that they will listen though, its seems that Bangladesh government has already close their minds and shutting everything crypto related so I don't think this will work. It's just hard for us if our government does not support the growth and don't realised the potentials that they gain in this will just open their eyes and look for the benefits instead of shunning it.

The bank's policy prohibits the use of credit cards for crypto use. This is bad for the crypto world. At this stage of crypto growth, policies like this inhibit mass adoption which is very much needed for crypto.
It is expedient that the government of this country realizes the importance of crypto and make amendments to policies like this

It's not that bad, they just closed one door, there're many other doors to be used. People will find another way to buy and cash out, just with bank it's much easier of course, it's why we still use them.
Banks have their own rules, and banks make mistakes. I can't say what's the problem here, OP should go to the bank and clear things, it's why I do when I have a problem with them, and I had problems with banks, liek each of us had at least once probably. It can be a mistake by some employe, it can be anything stupid, and if it is it will be solved, but if the bank have a new rule than it's on you to still use them or to simply find another bank that suits your needs.

This is totally funny matter to me actually. ;D ;D . I think Bangladesh governments IT sector people or policy maker men could not understand what they are doing or going to do. Many govt banned crypto currency but they did not banned debit or credit card to buy games. Yes there are some gaming sites who accepting BTC but how they connect debit or credit card that are not really realizable to me. Actually as cryptocurrency is illegal to Bangladesh so nobody saying about it because people thinking if they say anything about it police or crime unit will capt them. I think it will needed more time for Bangladesh govt or central bank.

thanks.

I feel like the overreaction from some backwards country is not really that shocking. Bangladesh is not a place that you imagine when you imagine a beautiful country, I can name probably 100 other countries that I would rather be in before I name Bangladesh, but that is what happens when you have an ignorant public plurality with crooked politicians who want to make sure that they have the control by basically ignoring all the human rights and sensible and logical movements.

So, I would say the best case right now for Bangladesh would be to leave the nation, go away somewhere else if you have a slight brain, there is no reason to really stay in a nation just because you were born there, if you were born in a horrible place, just run away, I am sure you can find at least one place you can work and live.

It's a shame that some governments take issue with someone's own money management