Bitcoin Forum

I do not want to repeat what I have posted before about what was going on in Russia and how the Central Bank of Russia were making moves to make sure crypto transactions are banned in the country, they want to follow what China did. But the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin later spoke good about bitcoin mining and believe this will do the country good.

If you are interested to read about it:
Fate of bitcoin in Russia (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5383261.msg59089980#msg59089980)

If the president had not made his own research, the Central Bank of Russia might have succeeded. After the good news from Vladimir Putin, Russia wants to make bitcoin a currency.

Russian government and central bank agree to treat Bitcoin as currency (https://news.iobanker.com/2022/02/08/russian-government-and-central-bank-agree-to-treat-bitcoin-as-currency/)

That's pretty cool, but isn't Russia is a big adversary of cryptocurrency? So I really have some doubts about bitcoin being buddy buddy with Putin, maybe he wants the corruption in his regime reach a new heights, hopefully this is still going to give a positive effect on bitcoin. With Russia planning to adopt bitcoin, we might see more Russian allied countries follow suit though.

Click on the link, read about it very well, only what people can against is that banks and legalized exchanges that will be used will be centralized, but what do we expect, it would. In this way, I do not see any corruption that will occur that fiat is not used for. Do not be of the mindset that bitcoin bring about scam and corruption like fiat and DeFi (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5383380.msg59099007#msg59099007).

Well not yet so . I do not see the news as an express adoption of bitcoin in Russia. Putin just made a statement that perhaps would not allow a ban or restriction to cryptocurrency but not a pass like e El Salvador did. The status is not that it would make bitcoin illegal like the banks initially wanted. At it is I think CBDC will be a way to start for Russia so they can handle other political challenges bedevilling them at the moment.

The good news, they are not banning it so we can close that chapter.
The bad news, they are "legalizing it" russian style.



Well, to be honest, this would be the best we could have got, thinking that they would not bind the legalization with a ton of requirements was just daydreaming, so let's hope the change from the draft to the law doesn't become more punitive.

Oh, another good part is they didn't mention any extra tax, maybe just maybe   ::)

My guess is that his change of mind is more likely to have come from some of his oligarch friends having found Bitcoin and Bitcoin mining to be rather profitable ;)



Yes, declaring Bitcoin a currency is not the same as declaring it legal tender. Since many countries already treat Bitcoin like a currency, at least in regards to tax, it's not quite as huge a step as it seems to be. But at least it's not going in completely the wrong direction.

Probably Gozie51 skipped the main part of the story, his comment is about the first link which I only used to explain what was going on before the second link. @Gozie51, click on the second link and read it or read some part of it from the quote. You have also been told that legal tender is not the same as legal currency, it is not necessary to make bitcoin a legal tender before you can make it a legal currency.

what the president of russia is doing is the right thing because rejecting Bitcoin today is like rejecting technological progress.  El Salvador is still the first country to make Bitcoin as a legal tender, and after Russia recognized Bitcoin as a currency, are they going to make Bitcoin as a legal tender there!  i'm looking forward to episode after episode that will happen again.

He should've said that earlier. AFAIK, their very own genius Vitalik has been working with a government project but it's not about bitcoin, probably with his ETH.
This is a positive development. With just approval and a few words from Putin then things would come as he wants to go if it's about bitcoin in a positive note for telling it as a currency.

Interesting, but you'd think Russia would have its collective mind on more important things than replacing its fiat currency or promoting mining at a time like this when there's so much political/military tension in the country. 

Aside from that, I was recently looking at electricity rates around the world and discovered that Russia has some of the lowest.  If you're a bitcoin (or altcoin) miner, it'd be fantastic to set up a big farm somewhere where the weather is always cold and power is cheap.  But I'm always confused as to the state of legality regarding bitcoin in two countries: Russia and China.  Is bitcoin mining legal in Russia or not?  I could swear the last I heard it was not.  If that's the case, hopefully Putin is coming around to making it OK to do so in Russia again.

Yeah well, I can't imagine he'd be making statements like this just for the hell of it.  No politician would do that; there's got to be some kind of incentive for Putin or any other world leader to publicly praise bitcoin.

Oh how the turn tables.  ;D The government is far from being trustworthy and it could be a ruse to find out who own how much but this is still a good news regardless. And if they push through with this, it's gonna be a big development. Russia is no El Salvador, the IMF would probably not try to harass.


If it become widespread there I suppose it could be a way for their economy to still function despite any new sanctions.

Game theory at it's finest, isn't it? Once enough folks get some Bitcoin just in case, you're bound to end up with people at the top getting in as well and thus their interests start aligning with the rest of the Bitcoin world...

Considering the fact that the Russian economy is struggling and at the same time the COVID cases are not getting better I do think that this mindset could help them. This can also be in preparation of the war that they might be about to start as well. Bitcoins can help get the funding in place and sending would be more easier since they were trying to do it with the gold deposits that Putin has saved up. But at the end of the day it's an amazing place for mining and soon enough this might not only be profitable for them but can also encourage other countries as well. But I am not really sure that it's something that can be trusted. *We will have to wait for a proper white paper or a law*

Imposing a limitation of crypto transactions and even possession to banks and crypto exchanges licensed in Russia is actually very significant and not pro-crypto. First, it means that hodling your own keys will essentially be illegal because it's not a bank account or a crypto exchange. Second, even doing something like Binance trading's also illegal because there's no way Binance obtained a special Russian license, and I'm sure many popular exchanges won't bother with countries that require special licenses, unless it's a country of huge financial significance (like the US). So even the draft law, which might not actually pass, isn't looking that good, even though it might initially sound bullish.

It's an interesting development to see, that's for sure. It looks like there is a tussle going on between the Russian Central Bank and Ministry of Finance. To me it seems that cryptocurrency is a very powerful tool for a country like Russia, who can use it to transport funds in an obfuscated way across borders and they are probably looking for any options that could diminish the power that the SWIFT system has over them. It would be unwise to cut Russia off from SWIFT at any point, but the threat is a possibility in extreme situations and would do them a lot of harm. Ultimately however, it does not make sense to ban such currencies and it seems that sanity has prevailed.

Bitcoin will turn to be a good asset for Russia since it will minimize the threat to Russia's financial system. I think just like El Salvador, they start to believe that bitcoin will be a hedge against inflation and it will totally improve the struggling economy of Russia since its also widely affected with this covid 19 economic crisis. And to think that adopting of bitcoin could lessen the growth of poverty rate, then putting it in a law will be good enough for legalization.

I do always have those doubts that they had created some FUD on banning it out and then making up some u-turn just because they had finished on placing themselves or buying on the bottom?
and now they are making out some positive sentiments for making the market going up? Well, its just my presumption yet those views is something that considerable or true speaking.
Im aint surprised that they would really be making out some u-turn and at least they do make out some realizations.

I don't know much about game theory other than what I learned when reading about John Nash's life, but yeah, I guess the big wigs aren't exempt from the fear of missing out on something that's performed as well as bitcoin has.  It's doubtful Putin himself owns any, but who knows. 

On the other hand, that wouldn't explain why bitcoin is either illegal or highly regulated in certain parts of the world.  If politicians really were getting in on bitcoin, you'd think they'd take more of a hands-off approach when it comes to lawmaking. 

Bitcoin isn't ever going to alleviate poverty.  It doesn't have the innate ability to do so--same for any other asset or currency; poor people don't have enough money in general, so how is bitcoin going to help them?  I've seen arguments like yours many times over the years on this forum, and it always baffles me why they're made.  If you or anyone else can tell me how any cryptocurrency can raise someone from below the poverty line to a stable financial state, I'm all ears and I'd love to hear it.

I also doubt Putin himself holds any, but if anyone who's sufficiently close to him were to have vested interest in Bitcoin it would help soften his stance a bit.



I can see two potential reasons for this: (1) not all countries will have well connected people that are interested in Bitcoin and (2) if you're important enough rules and regulations don't quite apply to you, at least for a little while.

Isn't this too hasty? Yesterday, we heard them plan to ban crypto, but today want Bitcoin to be a currency. I'm a bit confused with the Rusia style in treating crypto. I don't want to speculate about the future of crypto in Rusia, it may change again in a short time. But surely this news will bring good impacts to crypto market. At least, this news triggers the prices of crypto coins to increase again. Regarding whether Rusia is serious to make BTC be a legal currency there, to be honest I doubt it.

This article Russia Shares Plan To Regulate Bitcoin, Crypto (https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/russia-shares-plan-to-regulate-bitcoin-crypto) summarizes pretty much everything the Russian government has said about how they want bitcoin to work in Russia. They don't like the idea of bitcoin being a decentralized digital currency with which people can transact absolutely free without having to rely on banks or any other intermediaries and without having to identify themselves in order to get permission to make a transaction. That is why they want banks to surveil and control every bitcoin transaction that is made by Russian citizens. They also don't like the idea of people having full custody over their money, and they will likely force citizens to give up their private keys and hand over them to banks and other centralized custodial services to minimize risks of money laundering, terrorism and opposition financing, and other risks associated with money that is open for everyone to access and use. I'd rather prefer the Russian government banning bitcoin because what they are proposing is harmful and antithetical to the whole ecosystem and the principles on which bitcoin stands.

So the central bank couldn't ban bitcoin and other crypto currencies? Like I said before, if Putin says yes, it is a yes. If Putin says no, it is a no. I am sure the president knew the benefits of crypto currencies and I am more sure that he and his entourage are going to take advantage of this for their own good based on the way they are going to regulate it.Are you saying the Central bank did no research prior to proposing a ban on bitcoin but the president did? You think the president does his own research and isn't advised by someone else? By the way, Bitcoin "is" a currency.
At least they aren't banning bitcoin like few countries did. It's better to start from somewhere.

I think that we should stop caring that much about what the Russian government/central bank thinks about crypto.This week,they are friendly,next week they will become hostile towards crypto.
It's a never ending roller coaster.
These proposals are just proposals.A proposal doesn't mean anything.Even if they change their legislation in regards to crypto,that still doesn't mean that much,because they could change their laws,rules and regulations anytime they want.
Russia is becoming the new China.I got tired reading news about the opinions of the Russian government in regards to cryptocurrencies.Most of these news are rumors and clickbait gossips.

I am not surprised by their shift towards crypto (BTC). Not because BTC is that important to their economy, but because BTC and crypto are in a transition period and the sentiment is constantly shifting towards and forward. So even though Putin said it could be a good option, the sentiment could shift back again if something in their economy changes or they see a benefit in doing so. Bottom line is that BTC and crypto do not need mass government adoption right now, what it does need is to be left alone for a while, not baned. Adoption is the next step in evolution, but not right now.

The decision of Russia government may not be too convincing for me as they have their own motive why there is sudden change of decision towards crypto. Last month, they were banning it, and now they are planning to adopt it. But what is important is that bitcoin is now starting to be widely accepted as a currency, and not just a sole investment.  Hopefully, more countries will see the advantages of bitcoin especially today that it will be the best option to protect the people from inflation.

The advisers in the area of technology let the Government know the danger of rejection of bitcoin and the possible implication in the area of technology the long term. The best Idea of the Government is to regulate like they did, but I dont know the period of trade of 600,000 rubies of cryptocurrency asset, Is it in a day or a month?
What do they mean by calling it an analogue currency?

There are two opposing camps between the Russian finance minister and the central bank who still don't want cryptocurrencies to be given space in Russia. Therefore, we will wait for the results of the board's decision which will be held later on February 11. Because the decision will show Russia's alignment with cryptocurrencies. We really hope that the Russian government council meeting can be won by the Russian Ministry of Finance who is more pro-crypto and wants to make it an alternative payment.

All I can comment about this is that fiat have successfully been used and continuously been used for corruption, this is just because fiat have value, what has value can be used for money laundering, terrorism, corruption and other illicit activities. According to United States SEC, only little amount of bitcoin are involved in corrupt practices while trillions of fiat are involved. Bitcoin transaction is more transparent than fiat transactions also. Know that I am not implying DeFi or NFT that have more features that harbours illicit activities.

I could not help but chuckle at Mr. Putin not "doing his own research" bearing in mind that he is an ex-KGB :) and notoriously known for keeping tabs on pretty much everything and everyone. Regarding the benefits of bitcoin, there is an economic point on liberalising bitcoin trade, taxing and managing it, but the fact remains that it concedes plenty of autonomy to people and that is seldom to the like of the centralised authoritarian governments.

I hope I could believe it.

Despite the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine, I find this as a key factor that made BTC and other cryptocurrencies on a bull run. But I don’t know how long will this bull run can be sustained though. It was rejected when it reaches more than $45.2k on CoinMarketCap.

I just wanted both sides to settle though and remain in peace, because if it escalates into a war, the price of BTC and other cryptocurrencies might be affected and going downhill once again.

After a lot of polemics about crypto in Russia, reportedly now Russia has reached an agreement with the central bank to make bitcoin one of the legal tender for transactions in Russia, what Russia does in my opinion is the right thing and they seem to be open to accepting alternative payment using digital currency.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/cointelegraph.com/news/russian-gov-t-and-central-bank-agree-to-treat-bitcoin-as-currency/amp

Indeed many countries reject bitcoin only because of the risk of money laundering resulting from corruption, but in fact corruptors have also been laundering money in various modes and not only with bitcoin, in my opinion it is very difficult for many countries to eradicating corruption that occurs, if indeed the threat of punishment is not quite severe for corruptors and until now there may be very little news that we hear if there are corruptors who are proven to use bitcoin as a money laundering tool.

It can be one of the reasons for the recent increase of Bitcoin price but I have never linked it to it. I link the recent increase of Bitcoin price to be because of the massive bear market which make Bitcoin to fall from above $47000 to $32800. This alone can trigger bull run.

I do not wish war to break out, I think people can start to convert to bitcoin if there is war and can lead to increase in Bitcoin price but I may not be right, this can lead to world war that can have a great negative effect on Bitcoin price of it becomes world war.

Its good thing but they are going to take the nature of decentralization which is anonymity so they are doing in their own way and who knows after they collect all the data they can say now we are banning Bitcoin. ::)

Or this just proves the statement is roaming around the internet which is Russia created the Bitcoin. :P

Right now the russian government has ratified bitcoin as a legal tender in the country, and maybe this is one of the reasons for the strengthening of bitcoin prices today, with the approval of the russian government, of course investors and traders in russia can make every transaction crypto without any worries anymore, but the russian government has set strict regulations in this regard, such as one about crypto transactions that occur more than $8000 must be reported and if not then the government will consider it a criminal act that will be subject to penalties or fines , although it has certain limitations on crypto, but I think this is quite good news for all of us, especially the crypto community in Russia, so this can be the first step of positive developments for bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in this big country in the future.

I saw this news a few days ago:
How Russia can earn $13 billion annually by regulating cryptocurrency? - https://www.wionews.com/technology/how-russia-can-earn-13-billion-annually-by-regulating-cryptocurrency-451488#:~:text=A%20new%20report%20has%20claimed,well%20as%20income%20from%20investments. (https://www.wionews.com/technology/how-russia-can-earn-13-billion-annually-by-regulating-cryptocurrency-451488#:~:text=A%20new%20report%20has%20claimed,well%20as%20income%20from%20investments.)

And now I am reading this thread and I see some connections... I guess this is a lot of money just from taxes, so this could be the reason why they are doing that! This part is interesting:

Well, in the end, it's Russia, many times we saw the news about banning crypto, and they didn't do anything about it, now we see this and I am not sure how serious they are about it or it's just some of their games! We will see what will happen, but I am not optimistic about this matter... for sure I will not believe it until I see it happening!

Such is the fact that the closeness of Russia and China as an alliance in building their economies is becoming clearer in which direction it will lead. I also don't want Russia to be seen as supporting it, but later on, what China is doing also applies to Russia. Taking profits after Bitcoin Bullish by rolling out prohibition laws.

I don't know how to feel about this. On one hand this is a MAJOR country when it comes to adoption. Many people have never heard of El Salvador before but definitely Russia. It gives it an air of legitimacy when crypto outsiders hear about it.

On the other hand, we don't know what Russia is trying to achieve with this announcement, considering they've been going after miners just a couple years ago. I think there's an element of desperation in this, maybe they see this as a way to make some money despite whatever sanctions they are currently on (at least they didn't outright stole Bitcoins like NoKor did). What I'm worried is this could elicit an opposing response from US/NATO, although that might be unlikely.

The sad part is, our nation doesn't even see it as a currency, it sees it as an asset (like stocks or gold instead of money) so maybe he got confused and assumed it was turning it that way instead. Yeah, most nations see it as a currency but there are more nations that see it as an asset and not as a currency and there is a big difference between them.

Dollar or Euro is not an asset, it is fiat, it is a currency that you spend, you can't call it an investment. Whereas having gold or stocks or real estate or anything to that level would mean that it is an asset. Most nations unfortunately do not know the difference and list crypto as an asset which makes taxes a lot higher unfortunately.

Why not care? But, it is all up to you that's your life but to us this issue was important because it talks about crypto and we are involved in it. Russia is a big country and if they ban or unban crypto, it could greatly affect the market. This is not just a clickbait but i check the source and it came from reputable sites, one of them is yahoo finance.

I do not think they will make fake articles because that will damage their reputation. I am familiar to what happened to china, India and other countries where they ban and unban crypto but not to this one on Russia. This can be their first move if ever their plans came true and i hope they will stick on it.

As a btc supporter, I think it is not bad to appreciate any good news (no matter how insignificant it might appear) that comes out in regards to btc, to me, I think this is another giant step towards btc adoption which is more important, although we know that this type of news will always attract some form of regulations,
And since we already know that adoption will not be possible without regulations, we can only accept it as it is,
I also saw the news from another source and I thought it was just to attract readers, it is a good thing it is not, Russia accepting btc as legal tender is big news, unlike El-Salvador, Russia is a big country and this can have more impact on the overall market than that of El-Salvador, not to mention how popular it will make btc to become.

Russia has been known to be a very strict country with foreign currencies in my opinion but there is still a possibility that its attitude will change towards crypto especially bitcoin. There are pros and cons so far and I think both are still in the proposal stage.

The timeline for news of proposed crypto bans and legalizations is so close that it creates confusion for most people. While ban proposals have had an impact on market fluctuations and support proposals to legalize crypto have strengthened the market. It's been almost less than a month so we really need to verify it before come to a decision. I feel it will be good for adoption growth if Russia legalizes it, it will be faster than imagined.

If a country wants to adopt bitcoin, they will have to do with centralization and they will be centralized, according to the news, banks and centralized exchanges that are well regulated by Russian government will be the available options to go for, but we should know that there will still always be means for people that prefer decentralization by having only noncustododial wallets and decentralized exchanges, nothing about them will be about centralized organizations or they may let some part of the to remain decentralized.

Bitcoin is not a foreign currency, anything about bitcoin is not foreign, it is decentralized and available to the world not certain countries. Russian also still accept some international currencies like USD, EURO and probably YUAN, but it is like they are not accepting USD again but I a not sure.

I think this is one of the reasons that bitcoin these past few days has been gaining a price surge and still increasing its price from $40k resistance level. This kind of news will help create positive feedbacks in the crypto market, and yes its working now. If Russia will be able to succeed from this proposal, this will be a giant step for bitcoin to reach an all time high, as another developed countries will surely follow the path.

Bitcoin is all in one, you can call it an asset because its value is increasing, a currency because you can easily use if for payment. Be it anything a country call it, what is most important is its adoption.

It depends on what you want to count it as, you can count fiat as an asset that lose value over time which is what fiat are, this is the reason some people will not classify it as an asset because its value is reducing because government controls itsnprice and reduce on value.

Any currency whose circulation is prohibited in your country will be referred to as a foreign currency such as USD, Pounds, or the fiat currency of another country you are familiar with. So far I don't know about the currency of any country to use as legal tender in Russia without having to convert it to Russian Ruble. But bitcoin is certainly something different despite being called a currency.

Bitcoin is known by another name, namely internet money which is not in physical form, without a central authority controlling it so that everyone can use it as a means of payment regardless of how the government regulates it. Bitcoin is still called a foreign currency in my country although currently the regulations are limited to assets that can be traded not as a currency.

You slightly do not understand the fundamental reasons for such a "pendulum" of opinions in Russia - sometimes we don't want it, sometimes we want it. There is quite a living paranoia at the top of the Kremlin that in the process of further degradation of the economy, even the closest environment will be able to withdraw their savings through cryptocurrencies away from the economic black hole, which is on the way to collapse. Putin is used to leading and controlling everything, including the money of "friends". The second reason is the paranoia that opposition parties and organizations can be financed through cryptocurrencies.
"If you can't win something - lead it" - this principle is used in this situation. It seems that everything is beautiful, a crypto-advanced country, "freedom", but.... As always, everything is limited by the rules, and everything is totally controlled.
PS do you really think that they also believe in the fairy tale "Bitcoin is the savior of a dying economy built by crooked hands"? :)

Why do we need to compare Russia and El Salvador? El Salvador isn't a big country but what El Salvador did is a big thing. If El Salvador never decided to make Bitcoin as a legal tender, I don't think any other countries brave to make Bitcoin be a legal tender. So far, what El Salvador did, bring big impacts to the whole crypto industry. Sure, if Russia really decides Bitcoin as a currency there, there will be a big impact on crypto industry, too. But how far it will influence crypto market? I think it won't be too much different than the impact caused by El Salvador.

If the two countries should go into war, I don’t think that it is going to affect bitcoin at all. But, I don’t want them to go into war, because war is a very bad thing and going into war over any issue at this point would be really very bad, especially now that we are all still recovering from the problems that covid-19 has caused us all.

So, anyone still talking about war at this point is really out of their mind. If they are having problems, I believe that their better ways that they can settle their problems and fighting a war wouldn’t be the way for them to go about it, they should steer clear from that part.

I have followed the trends of countries position on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, the anti-crypto government agency e.g the central bank, has always been the body giving the government bad advice and making cryptocurrency look like a bad idea to the government thereby leading to banning in some cases, take all the countries that cryptocurrency is a ban, for example, it all happens on the advice of Central banks who see cryptocurrency as a threat to their dominance in the financial system.

The governments can give people inaccurate information, it is we that will know they are not accurate at all, it is very obvious that bitcoin is not a foreign currency, how can what is decentralized be called foreign, but I hope the more your government will know what bitcoin is.

I mean foreign reserve, I post that because of what I quoted. Or maybe it should be like this, that establish country like Russia will accept and depend on foreign currencies as a legal tender or a currency to locally be in circulation.

From my part of understanding this nation's accepting Bitcoin is on their own detriment and on their way of benefiting into bitcoin, Russian and china. this countries in particular have inner motive plans for Bitcoin, both are doing same thing with bitcoin, without a difference, if really they want to legalize bitcoin to the country is good because it is for economic target, but in another way format they are passing scandal to bitcoin indirectly with this their news

Many countries are now starting to look at bitcoin as a financial alternative, but as we know that so far the central bank is the party most often opposed to cryptocurrencies, many of the central banks argue that crypto will disrupt economic stability and is also prone to happen criminal  money laundering, but I don't think that's the main reason for central banks to reject bitcoin all this time, but I think central banks are afraid of losing control of their economic policies in terms of monitoring inflation and financial stability of a country, so they continue to oppose the adoption of cryptocurrencies especially bitcoin.

Of course to regulate something they have to do it with the help.of centralized database but when it comes to Russia they have been against decentralization and bitcoin in particular but suddenly their president says that they are not against it and going to regulate it is little bit surprising. People who bought bitcoins from p2p and decentralized exchanges can still remain anonymous but what government is focusing are the remaining people.

Bitcoin is already started becoming a currency worldwide as we know about that, so what they are doing is to declare it legal and allow its usage in their country. As of recent Russia is one of the top countries in the world that has the highest share in the global Bitcoin mining market. So, for miner to be moving to that location shows that they were positive enough that Russia would be one country that would be in favor of Bitcoin, unlike other countries that has decided that it was best for them to ban cryptocurrency in their countries.

But, I don’t really know about this their new law that people must make use of exchanges that are licensed by the government.

As you can see for yourself, this information once again shows us that much that is said about the processes in Russia has nothing to do with reality. Of course, there are forces in Russia that are trying to harm the state and the people, and the fact that the President of Russia interfered in solving the problem with cryptocurrencies in Russia tells us that there is an internal struggle and, as a result of this struggle, common sense prevailed. I am also glad that President Putin was able to speak out on the topic of mining and cryptocurrencies and thereby put an end to this confrontation in favor of the recognition of cryptocurrencies in Russia.

Well, am not surprised, to me, I think if after Russia found out that some other country is crowdfunding war against them through bitcoin and they still believe or still go ahead to make bitcoin illegal, then something must be wrong somewhere, to understand what I mean better, here is a news headlines I found on coinmarketcap yesterday and I took a screenshot of it, this probably is the reason for the change of mind.

If we are learning about Bitcoin being a worldwide currency, it already started in previous years. What Russia planned is just one of the signs that Bitcoin finally can be the worldwide currency. We must thank to El Salvador to make it as their legal tender, it makes all countries in the world be aware of the potential of Bitcoin as a national or international currency. Then, when Russia finally declares Bitcoin as a legal currency, more big countries may follow this adoption.

This is a good step from the Russian government to accept bitcoin as currency , it will revive the economy of Russia to wax stronger and it will also make business to be easy for citizens.  This new development of Russia accepting bitcoin as currency is a great news, which other countries may likely adopt as Russia as taking this bold step.

I actually don't really understand the political steps that Russia has taken against BTC, in fact they haven't fully legalized BTC as a currency.  Only the Minister of Finance proposed that the Bank sell crypto.  Even though a few months ago, their fud caused the crypto market to collapse due to the prohibition of mining in their country.  What's wrong with them?  why did it change so fast?  Is it because the conditions of the war with Ukraine caused them to push BTC to increase its value and they as BTC holders can sell and use the profits to finance the war?  this is my wild mind

I don’t see anything more than regulation of the crypto currencies. I mean this is what rest of the world is doing anyways. I don’t know why are they giving it name of making it official currency, lolz. In economical way, they are clearly mentioning when you have to declare the possession of crypto which seems to be reasonable. Way good than banning the crypto. For average spending, 600,000 ruble is huge for there peeps.

Also, it’s funny; they mentioning in article that it’s mandatory to use digital currency and p2p only. Dam, Please let me know what other ways are there to buy and sell crypto. :D

Guess it's just more regulations getting slapped on bitcoin. At least it's gonna be legal. And I haven't heard of any news yet about something like a 30% tax like in India. It seems Russia really is gearing up for possible conflicts. I'm seeing this as a way to skirt around restrictions that could be placed on it if tensions regarding Ukraine intensify.

It's a piece of very good news for all investors and traders so waiting for good something just someday ago china was manipulated market but now big country trying to create good news.

Manipulation of this market by Russia will be another "gift" to the crypto market. Given the status of the country, almost a pariah, up to its neck in sanctions and almost guaranteed prospects for the collapse of the economy and the highest internal tension! Believe me - China, if I may say so, was a much better "manipulator"

Most countries that ban Bitcoin were at the advice of the central bank, as Bitcoin is seen as a currency that will take banking and other transactions out of the third party system, and become independent of the bank and they are seeing this as a threat to them.

But when the president is a civilized Democrat it will know the advantage of blockchain technology and the many advantages of Bitcoin as a financial tool within the system.
The government just has to find a way around it and focused on the many advantages of blockchain and how it helps to improve the general economy of the country.
Russian President Putin has vast knowledge in economic management and the many advantages of cryptocurrency.

This is a very welcoming move for everyone in cryptos world. Now everyone knows that whatever happens there is atleast this one major country which totally supports bitcoin and even Bitcoin mining, so it's not only a safe haven for hodlers but also for miners whose countries are deciding to ban bitcoin. Moreover with Russia the best thing is there is no Government change so you will never see a change in ideology too.

You should know that once government is involved there is no way they will make it easy for the citizens. 


Maybe soon they will make public the tax % that will be imposed by the government, I guess this are tye stricter laws Michael Saylor was referring in other for btc to be generally adopted.

Do you mean Russia is trying to make good news? I don't know what you mean, but I never heard that a country created news. What Russia or China did was to make policies related to crypto status in their countries. Unfortunately, the policies made by Russia or China bring some impacts on crypto market. Russia ban issue and China ban on mining, have triggered crypto market to experience a big downtrend phase in the last few months.

It is a speculative market and what do you expect. If you are trading in cryptocurrency you need to understand that you are in a highly volatile market and any news can change the market in either direction, all you need to do if you are investing, is to enter at a good price and then sit on top of it and book your profit. Consider the price last year and then you can very well say that it is a upward trend  ;).

Yes. I am somewhat worried with how the government could slowly restrict our use of bitcoins and crypto in general. I suppose it's still possible to live under that though it'll probably be easier to track the activity than it is with fiat when engaging in an underground economy instead.

my view is also the same, the chinese government is a good drama maker, much better than other countries

I still feel there is something big behind Russia's decision at this time, I don't know why I didn't so sincerely recognize bitcoin as a currency. I hope that's just my own feel

Both regimes, that  Kremlin, that Beijing - totalitarian regimes. This must always be remembered! This means that they have always made and will make all decisions, not to promote the solution "to the masses", but only to solve their problems, and often not very legal or moral ones. For example, Russia has a "domocles sword" of blocking the accounts of aligarhs who are part of Putin's entourage. And for them, the withdrawal of funds through the crypt is a very convenient strategy, maybe that's why they fell in love with it so much?

Can we say it's a positive impact of the war even though it's happening in an awful manner . Since it's officially legal to own and transact crypto just like every other fiat I would rather suggest Russians go completely decentralized to avoid been trapped in any sort of regularization. Where I am not comfortable with the adoption is the declaration of transactions above 600,000 rubies  ($8,000) this is one of the worst cases Bitcoin has encountered in the hands of law makers

I think this is part of Russia's strategy in dealing with cryptocurrencies there so that society does not increase the economic crisis due to war, but government regularization seems to be there but I hope it doesn't pressure and harm crypto users of Russian society itself
considering that Russia is one of the bitcoin holders and users who should be taken into account and can also have an effect on further developments and price trends

For me, the Russian government has been using Btc for many years, and it is obvious that they must have a large amount of BTC bought and generated through mining, another thing is that they do not make it known, but I am sure they are doing it , these people are not stupid at all, they are aware of the potential that BTC has as an asset almost as a Safe Haven, and it is not surprising that they are using it at the moment, that is why Biden has tried to block them through the Exchanges , but this is something almost impossible, you can lock them with some but not with all.

the amount is already bigger than what other countries are requiring to their constituents. it is true that this war may have have positive impact with regards to adoption in russia. they have limited choice as of now as many financial institutions are putting sanctions on many russian-owned or related businesses. so they need other options of payment method. that's where bitcoin or other crypto comes in along with chinese yuan and other currencies.
some will go into bitcoin for decentralisation purposes. but they should know that if it is being stored in a centralised exchange, they are subjecting themselves also for some possible restrictions, which means, they need to keep up what's the latest protocol. because these exchanges can also hold their funds.

Of course they are not stupid. They're secretly mining and hoarding Bitcoin to become as self-sustainable as possible. Who can blame them since Bitcoin is a decentralized and censorship-resistant cryptocurrency? The US and its allies may try to restrict centralized exchanges from dealing with Russian customers, but they won't be able to have much success doing so with decentralized exchanges and in-person trades.

Imagine if Russia adopts Bitcoin as legal tender just like El Salvador did. It'll be a complete "nightmare" for the West and the EU. US President Biden already signed an executive order with the intent of regulating the use of crypto, but that it's as far as it gets. I wouldn't worry about that as long as people are still able to achieve true financial freedom. Just my opinion :)

The impact of cryptocurrency ban or regulation on the market can not be underestimated and RUSIA being a world leader adopting cryptocurrency is such a big news but the fact that the world is currently not in support of the Rusia invasion of Ukraine have made their economy downsize so adopting bitcoin In this period may likely not have any big influence on the market but again it will increase the rate of Bitcoin global adoption.

Russia adopting bitcoin as a legal tender could be an interesting scenario, after all China which is their most powerful ally has decided to go the opposite route for the time being, what will this mean for their relationship? What will be the reaction of the US? And what will this mean for bitcoin? After all El Salvador is a small country, and even if Russia is not an economic juggernaut it is way bigger in almost any metric we can imagine than El Salvador, which means doing something like this will be many times more complicated.

If Russia adopts Bitcoin as legal tender, that would mean a complete disagreement with China's actions. Knowing that China is a long-standing ally of Russia, it's probable the Russian government will never embrace Bitcoin for its own benefit. Maybe Russia will decide to "mimic" China by launching a CBDC of its own?

Even if it doesn't adopt Bitcoin as legal tender, it can still survive on its own. With a vast number of natural resources at its disposal, Russia can build its own self-sustainable economy that could be immune from sanctions. No one knows what's in Putin's mind right now, so anything can be expected in the future. Just my thoughts ;D

I agree with you. Im also sure that Russia has its own BTC reserves, but these actions are not aimed at justifying these reserves, but will only provide an opportunity to earn additional funds from ordinary investors.  Everything that is done in the economic sphere isnt aimed at supporting investors, but only destroys them more.
First of all, they ruin ordinary small investors who are not ready to pay taxes and register themselves as an investor officially  >:(

This actually would have been the best thing to have happened to us this year, far from being a Russian, If the Russian government decided to adopt Bitcoin as a currency, am certainly sure that other countries would want to do same considering the positive growth and rapid change it will bring to our economy .

Bitcoin and war is a different thing and we people should not mix them both. Sure almost all the people are angry because of what Russia did to Ukraine but when it comes to the btc adoption on their country, I think people are glad to hear that and what can the people do anyway when Russia support btc? Will the people boycott btc? That sounds wrong.

Bitcoin didn't do anything wrong for it to be boycotted but I believe only few people are going to do it because majority are benefiting with it. Who underestimates ban or regulation news in crypto anyway?  I guess no one because the two are a very important matter here but I don't think Russia is the leader of the world.

I get your point and I noticed there is a little mid understanding with my point there, Bitcoin can not be boycott simply because Rusia make it legal and Rusia has no influence over Bitcoin market and the direction it goes, Bitcoin is not a currency for war and even if Rusia adopt Bitcoin it can not be used to avert the many financial sanctions against them.

But since Rusia is looking towards China for alignment adopting bitcoin will be far from reach because China is an anti Bitcoin country.

How can Russia bypass international sanctions with the help of a cryptocurrency, in particular, bitcoin? If we were talking about the need to move only finances, then yes, bitcoin could help with this. But here the sanctions mainly concern the import or export of certain groups of goods. A large volume of goods is almost impossible to quietly move over long distances. This will become known anyway, and all Russia's partners who violate the sanctions will themselves fall under them.

On the other hand, in Russia, the circulation of cryptocurrency as a means of payment was not allowed, and the Russians are unlikely to wait for this. To keep the financial system from collapsing quickly, the Putin regime seeks to ban the flight of capital from the country, and the cryptocurrency could escape Russia for this capital. Putin's entourage understands this very well.

The only good thing that can happen that Russia can adopt BTC as a currency is that the inflow of Demand will be impressive, and in this aspect I think that BTC could easily be reaching $100k, because all millionaires would not hesitate to obtain BTC, in addition that they would not be needing FIAT money, which is something dangerous in Russia at the moment, here they would end all economic blockade, although I do not know if the State in Russia would suit Putin this? perhaps it would be the particular solution for Russian citizens, but it would be a total decapitalization for the Ruble, and the ruble is the total representation of the Russian economy, although they could instead of relying on BTC rely on the Chinese stablecoin, which they would be entering in another type of economy that I think is much more prosperous than that of the same dollar.

It is logical to assume that Russia, in alliance with China, may have a new currency. I do not think that they will be satisfied with the cryptocurrency. A very real currency may appear in the BRICS countries, these countries have a large number of people and natural resources, the economy is actively developing. I don't think these countries will use bitcoin as their own currency.

Do you understand one thing at this point?

RUSSIA ACCEPTING BTC  =  NIGERIA ACCEPTING BTC

I do not want to discriminate any nation here but slowly Russian economy is going down the pit hole and they are not able to digest it. After so many sanctions, things are worst in Russia. The aftermath will happen soon, it may not be seen clearly yet but its gonna turn the Russian economy upside down. All they have is oil, but there are obviously other major sources out there so lets not get into that discussion.

If Russian RUBL is not a good fix then how they gonna rely on the decentralised currency like BTC

Russia's economy may be going down, but I believe using Bitcoin as a safe-haven could move things in the right direction. The government could simply sell its assets in exchange for Bitcoin in a decentralized manner. It's as easy as making BTC legal tender for the economy to rise all the way back to its former glory. But doing so would mean surrendering the government's sovereignty over people's money. Knowing that China banned Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies altogether, it's likely Russia will do the same in order to stay in par with its ally. Perhaps China will help restore the Russian economy amid sanctions imposed by Western countries and the EU?

Whatever happens in the long run, things won't look good for Russia as long as Putin is in power. The war is still on-going despite economic sanctions. Russian people are now struggling to get on their feet with a decaying Ruble, so either they act against the Putin regime or else. Just my opinion :)

I agree with you that the economy has suffered greatly, but this is not immediately visible. Now many cycles with many things and essential products have not yet passed. It is very sad to say this, but Russian citizens will suffer greatly, even though they do not understand it now. Russian stores were banned from raising prices for goods, but this cannot be avoided.
I do not believe in bitcoin as the second currency of Russia.

There have been rumors that China and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) will create a new currency to avoid dependence on the dollar and euro. This would make more sense than accepting bitcoin as currency, because bitcoin will still be heavily manipulated if the US and its allies are determined to join forces to bring it down. If a new currency was born, it would be the end of the dollar empire.

I fail to see how the US and its allies will be able to "manipulate" Bitcoin in order to bring it down, since the cryptocurrency has long been touted as "decentralized". Maybe I'm missing something? A new centralized currency would make no difference as it can still be sanctioned by allied countries. It doesn't matter if it lives on its own "blockchain" network, since the currency's centralized design will make it easier to shut down in an instant.

If China and Russia were smart, they would create a new digital currency that's secured by the Bitcoin blockchain itself. Something like a sidechain would do the trick. But I doubt Russia and China are going to take this approach, as they would be losing full control over people's finances. They'd have to outweigh the risks in order to try to avoid as much sanctions as possible. No one knows what Putin is up to right now, so we should be prepared for the worst. Just my thoughts ;D

War will more or less affect people's lives, whether the country is taken over or the country is punished. That is unavoidable.
Bitcoin is not going to be the second currency in Russia but it is already legal and seen as a solution along with the ruble. People can mine bitcoins, use bitcoins as a tool to generate profits or store assets, as a parallel payment method with the ruble.

This is very good news for all of us Russia is a big oil producer county so we are waiting for development. we will get good something in the near fiture.

I heard that the Russian government is indeed active in investing in bitcoin as a foreign exchange reserve that has been recognized for several years, of course this is good news and makes bitcoin's position stronger in the market.

Combining good energy sources, which I am sure it must make it cheaper than the nation that really and truly need it and missing it, and the cold weather I always wondered how awesome it must be to mine there?

I have no clue, Georgia is great though I know that and that is as close as it gets. All in all it should be something that people should look out for, it is really not that much of a big deal to allow people to mine bitcoin, because even in other nations people could go with renewable energy and buy solar panels and make it free basically with a higher starting capital, which is not really that expensive compared to moving to Russia and be under Putin's rule.

This is old news. February 9th. This means a lot of things have changed because we now have a war on going in between Russia and Ukraine. There were many sanctions which Putin foresee and changed the way they were looking at the crypto currency. The first assembly regarding legislations of bitcoin was entirely being discussed on different front. Like, they were just trying to have the agenda of bitcoin due new bill being passed on as the financial year end was close. But later on the War situation came in and Putin just got into trouble of huge sanctions from around the global and that included financial burdens on the Putin. I am pretty sure, Putin kept this on his mind, he might have planned it way early and that's why came on conclusion of legalising the bitcoin in the country. Honestly it is more or less personal interest to save his own assets rather than use-fullness to his people.

Russia  accepting bitcoin as currency is the only way that can be best for Russia right now and it is also an advantage  for Russia.  Before now several sanctions have been given to Russia,  recently I heard more sanctions is to be put upon Russia,  with all this sanctions and the  ones yet to come I don't think  if Russia can really survive  all the sanctions at hand.  It is really going to affect the economy and if Russia  had not accept bitcoin it would have been more terrible for them.