Bitcoin Forum

I'm reading many articles explaining that Russia shall be cut off from the SWIFT global interbank payments system, as a sanction in response to its invasion of Ukraine. That means it would be impossible to make bank transfers between Russia and most other countries.

I see this as an absolutely fantastic opportunity for BTC.
If you can"t use banks, just use BTC and be happy.

Russia has been working on legalizing bitcoin for the last couple of weeks. They definitely knew what they were doing.

Sure, bitcoin cannot be banned but let's say the U.S and the EU decide to ban bitcoin just because Russia is using it to avoid their sanctions (or at least use that as an excuse), what do you think would happen then (if we're talking about the price)?

I will never see war as a great opportunity, even for Bitcoin. War is the last thing we all need, let's pray for peace and the rest will follow. War never solved anything in this world and will never will.

I fully agree with the thesis of the author. The number and volume of transactions in bitcoins from Russia will grow, SWIFT may be turned off and this will even cause problems for the financial system of the Russian Federation. But this topic has been discussed for quite a long time and it will not come as a surprise. In addition, there is the factor of losing an "important client". After all, there is a huge amount of money. Why waste this money because of Ukraine? I am sure that this will not happen in any case until Russia is at war with the North Atlantic Alliance.

We've been hearing for years that BTC was used to finance terrorists, Russia may bring some more regulations, but I'm not expecting them to have an effect on price.

Swift payment system has many competitors:
CLS (Continuous Linked Settlements)
Financial Message Transfer System (SPFS) (Russia)
UnionPay (China)
JCB(Japan)
Under the conditions that the shareholders of large Russian companies are American and European investors, then the damage from the shutdown of Russia will be more for foreign companies.

See the thing is right now people are taking money out, they are taking all their assets out as well, selling bitcoins and selling other cryptocurrencies and volatile assets in the market so that they would be able to hide from the war. Therefore the value have dropped drastically as well, I do think it's a great opportunity for Bitcoins but one has to consider the way Russia is planning to use Bitcoins as well. Am quite afraid that it would not be used for good..the banking system would be widely affected internationally causing more probelms for the citizens living everywhere also the oil and gold is spiking fast, a new way for inflation now.

I have been reading about this as well and am hopefully that Russia being cut off from SWIFT actually makes a big difference in their ability to transfer monies across the glob, but I'm not sure it'll have the big effect that many ( and certainly NATO/ UN) hope it will.  I been reading that they already have ways around this particular sanction that will make being cut off from SWIFT not really a big deal.  I guess time will tell. 

Or is this a connection the Russians are deliberately trying to implement that we weren't aware of before? Like before they invaded Ukraine, preparing Bitcoin legality plans spread. Then the invasion was launched, prices dropped and Russia took those prices for a discount. That's just my speculation for now. However, now everyone is watching Russia busy invading by attacking the Ukrainian capital.

Some of the sources I read, if I'm not mistaken that Russia just wants to maintain the neutrality of Ukraine's position so as not to join NATO, Biden has sent 6000 US troops there to take advantage during the end of aid services to pressure Ukraine to join NATO.

I think Putin knew what to do, he's a really smart guy, he backtracked on the decision to ban Bitcoin that the Russian bank had taken a short time ago, he was going to war and he knew that the United States and its allies would impose harsh economic sanctions on Russia and that could disrupt the economy so it would decline About the decision to ban Bitcoin until there is an open window to the world and an easy means of financial transfer between Russia and the world, of course the United States and NATO will not be able to prevent Russia from using Bitcoin.

Not very far fetch. It must be the plan before the strike.
But sanctions don't really work for them because China and Russia have trade ties. Trump sanctioned China, hit them in a trade war, and tariffs. Russia was also sanctioned when they go annex Crimea but the two get around these sanctions and Russia legalized BTC as well. Circumventing these sanctions becomes a routine and other countries that depend on the two are more affected because prices are going up.

6000 US troops are not enough. Biden will just deliver them to hell. I would certainly quit if I were one of the marines to be sent to a location we have no idea what is like.

The threat of cutting Russia off from SWIFT was muted a while ago, when politicians were told how important it really is to keep access open. While there may be the odd discussion about it, cutting Russia off from the system would likely do more harm than good in the long run - it would actually play into Putin's hand to a degree. He wants to have a payment network that is outside the control of other countries and force all Russian people to use it, it'd give him more control over the finances of Oligarchs and be able to apply even more pressure to his opponents. Having all transactions going through SWIFT also allows overseas countries to trace money much more easily and offers more traceability. It's unlikely to come into action, but I don't see Bitcoin having a good time right now which is when you think it should be booming.

Sadly that's true I am sad about the war and the sufferings which will be inflicted upon the Ukranians and at the same time yes Russians will switch to bitcoin for transfer of funds which may increase the value of bitcoin, but things could go either ways as there are equal possibilities of western power tightening the noose around bitcoin and other crypto currency as a precautionary measures which will have negative impact on btc and it's too early to come to any conclusion.

Which still seems weird to me. Why would a nation, whose regime isn't known for seeking freedom, want to formalize Bitcoin... A currency known for decentralizing the economy. They have full control over their citizens via the banking system, I wonder what are their plans. 

I'll hold my breath for this.

I am thinking now that the reason why suddenly Russia changed its position over bitcoin or crypto, was because they were really in position to go to war.
We are seeing that bitcoin is down for the moment, but if the situation between Russia and Ukraine escalates to worse.
I have the feeling that after few weeks, bitcoin will start to gain its momentum as crypto will be a very good option to move money in this time.
I don't think US or EU can stop those crypto transactions as it is decentralized.
So yeah, hold our breath on this but maybe start thinking of accumulating satoshis also while the price is down.  ;)

Cutting off Russia from SWIFT would only hurt the U.S's strangle hold on U.S dollar for trade.   Sanction's only make Russia stronger and they can't seem to figure that out.
Russia/China will figure a way around the U.S dollar and I really doubt it's going to be bitcoin unfortunately.

this sanction "casually" was not voted today by EU member board.

bitcoin can be transported anywhere, because it is ubiquitous.
BTW I would have preferred a different occasion to see the spread of this technology :( ....

Yes, we can see that Bitcoin from Russia's response is a Chess piece, its been
brought into play as a defense to sanctions as per the thread title. As bitbollo
pointed out this is a perfect use case for Bitcoin its just a pity of the circumstances.
Thats Bitcoin, it ignores borders and is oblivious to its users and why they use it.

So that is why Putin is so confident on the attack knowing all of these, He is not the one getting hurt rather some of the investors outside and part of his enemies maybe.

Anyways let's hope for the best solution they could do, if this escalates more and other countries gets on board, worst is yet to come, it is very dangerous knowing these countries have nuclear warheads. If things go wrong and the buttons are pushed, do you think crypto or bitcoin will still remain? Would you guys expect it to run even mining facilities in the world will be totally destroyed? I know that there could be miners underground who will survive but it won't suffice. I have so many questions, most of us did not experience great wars so we just have to be ready whatever comes even though were just merely civilians.

I think Russia will be gettings its financial support from China before having to resort to desperate investments like Bitcoin or any other new generation money. I may be proven wrong but for now, I doubt that SWIFT cut off will do more than create FUD which will lead to further short term dips in price because of weak hands panicking and not understanding how Bitcoin value works.

Don't get me wrong, anyone who has no coin will miss out, big time!   :-*

The war is unfortunate and for Russia if they are stuck with sanctions then they will overcome those sanctions with cryptocurrency. Cutting off SWIFT is a major move but if they are overcoming these restrictions then there is no point in these sanctions  ;D. Will see how these things will unfold as this will have a major impact economically on a global scale.

My thoughts exactly, we've timed the attack absolutely perfectly, and it seems that they've largely executed their plan perfectly too. I'm not completely sure on what their intentions were with promoting Bitcoin the last few weeks, and then obviously launching this war between Ukraine, but I can't help, but think Bitcoin has been a part of their plan for a long time.

There's two ways you could probably think of Russia adopting it in such a way; Either they see it as a threat, and could potentially be wanting to associate themselves with it, then carry out the attack against Ukraine which they were going to do anyway, knowing that if they promoted Bitcoin weeks before, and then its people, as well as Russia try to get around the sanctions via Bitcoin, that they thought it would be banned, which could effectively make Bitcoin inaccessible to any law abiding citizens in the West that would tank the price to almost unrecoverable amounts, which would significantly hurt Bitcoin's ability to recover due to now being known as what Russia used to sidestep the sanctions, as it does seem Russia is public enemy number one right now, especially in the West.

That's probably the far fetched end of the stick, however the alternative is they indeed did intend on using Bitcoin to sidestep the sanctions, but not to drag Bitcoin through the mud, but to use it instead of traditional currencies which they know would become difficult after the attack. Again, if the West did decide on banning Bitcoin collectively, that would probably have similar effects on the price as the sanctions, so would they really benefit from doing it?

There's definitely some other theories out there, but the main thing I get from this in terms of how it'll effect the price is negatively if Russia does indeed try to sidestep the sanctions with Bitcoin. If they don't, I actually see Bitcoin benefiting from this, It's not only Russia government that gets hit by the sanctions, but the people. The UK not trading with Russia has an impact on British people, who might seek alternatives. Ukraine's people are currently queueing outside banks in hopes they can withdraw their money, which if it does indeed prove to be difficult to do that, and in fear that their money now is worthless, they could look for an alternative in Bitcoin. This approach without Russia's government looking to sidestep sanctions probably increases the faith in Bitcoin from people, and provides an alternative, where they're securing their money, and any future wars or current wars means their wealth won't be rendered worthless simply because they can't withdraw it.

I think they are promoting BTC so that the average Russian citizen can have that feeling that even if their banking is cut off from the rest of the world they can still move money. Big business has plans in place, as do the oligarchs. The average person does not. This allows them to still function with the outside world.

Side thought, and a sad bit of humor. 1st America did Vietnam and it did not go so well, then Russia did Afghanistan and that did not go so well, then the US did Afghanistan and it did not go well either, now Russia is doing Ukraine. Guess they wanted a new long drawn out conflict that will look like they are winning at 1st and then slowly get eroded away.

-Dave

My fear is that Russia starts using bitcoin & then the West is aggressive towards bitcoin use in their countries. Obviously they can’t stop people using bitcoin but they can make it difficult for average joe. I don’t want to have to move country because I can’t sell bitcoin at a profit to buy a home etc because my bank blocks the winthdrawal from the exchange.

Because Bitcoin is out of Swift's system. Bank of Russia I think will also be sanctioned by Biden because of Putin's action. Would that mean there is more freedom in Russia because they legalize BTC and not as people paint against Bukele and Putin as a dictator? I think so. Or I may just be seeing the positive side to these men that what are in the news.


It's possible because IMF is already aggressive to El Salvador and even Canada is freezing accounts that are linked to Truckers that did have issues related to cryptocurrency. I guess Bitcoin will be used more these days and this war is just going to fast forward the adoption of cryptocurrency.

In addition to being afraid of the public, this will also be a complicated thing for people living in Russia if banks block withdrawals from the exchange.
And logically we also can't move countries just because we can't sell bitcoins as usual.

Leaders of Russia had been huge supporters of cryptocurrency even though there are some hiccups along the way of the country's crypto adoption.


We can see a sudden fall in price but eventually, it will recover.  That is to be expected whenever there is huge news regarding the Bitcoin adoption or Bitcoin ban.  Traders tend to react to FUD and HYPE and  manipulators always take advantage of the confusion but eventually, the market will recover.

Some think that Russia will turn to Bitcoin if it is prevented from using SWIFT, but I do not believe that such a dictatorial country would ever officially accept Bitcoin, although it is possible that they are already using it for some of their dirty business. For those wondering why the US and EU are reluctant to kick Russia out of this payment system, the reason is very simple, too much money is at stake - and we all know that profit always comes first, and only then saving lives and helping people who they need help to defend themselves from aggressors.

I see this as a plus to the blockchain industry because this would pave way for the massive adoption  as a result of this cut off. Come to think of it, Russia has been on the verge of legalizing the use of bitcoin and from the look of it, it seems they knew what is ahead of them so cutting them off from  the swift payment system has no effect on them as they are already prepared for the unseen. Moreover, there are lots of competitors out there from Russia allies that are into swift payment, so you see. With the happenings unfolding, there would definitely be price increase on  bitcoin.

So it seems that the US wants to kick Russia out of the Swift system, but that the EU doesn't want it. Maybe they'll change their minds in a few days when the situations gets worse. Meanwhile, the sanctions already agreed have an effect:

https://www.reuters.com/business/russian-cenbank-says-cards-banks-under-sanctions-wont-work-abroad-2022-02-25/

Russian people can't use their Sberbank or VTB cards abroad, or to shop abroad online. Maybe that will bring some retailers to accept BTC as a payment?

But they never had any official position on bitcoin to want to change it! There has always been different sides arguing for and against bitcoin and they haven't reached consensus to this day. The thing is that the media only translates and publishes the negative side to spread FUD so you think their position is changed!

US wants to cause energy crisis in Europe and EU can't handle it so they don't want the escalation.

The EU can not do too serious sanctions on Russia because they are still relying too much on energy from Russia. 40% of EU energy is from Russia and we already saw how the energy crisis in the EU last winter.

It's bad for EU because many nations there are in their procedures to reduce carbon emission as well as shut down nuclear power plants. Their green energy increases in the last decade but in the same time, their power supply from nuclear power plants drop even further since the Fukushima Daiichi event.

I believe that Russia and Putin won't escalate their war to any Western nations beyond the Ukraine. They know that if they escalate it inaccurately, they will trigger the World War III and Putin does not want it. He can be a dictator in Russia but can not be the one like that globally.

The sanctions are not likely to stop Putin from doing what he wants, but will have a significant impact on the Russian economy. The idea is therefore to force Putin to change his foreign policy, but we know that Europe and the US cannot stop him right now, and the sanctions will weaken the EU's economy as well.

The EU needs to start seriously thinking about their independent policy on Russian gas exports in case Russia decides to cut gas shipments to Europe in the near future. The only way to get off the Russian gas dependence is to develop our own alternative supplies to make the EU independent of Russian gas.

in other news.
US and EU are not going to trigger the nuclear SWIFT option. as it would make russia more partnered to china and less reliant on EU/US
the US/EU only works if the US/EU can tie in their enemies into US/EU terms and conditions. but if russia moves over to use china's system, away from the US/EU, then the US/EU can no longer do things.

EG
just turning off swift might make russians touring in america no longer to spend funds in america. but russians on tour, can simply move their russian funds to a chinese system and then get a chinese card delivered to their american hotel and continue spending russian funds in america

meanwhile the US has less power /threat over russia because now russia is not reliant on the russia-US link
the US/EU fear pushing the issue to make russia be more reliant on china and less subservient to US/EU

russia has been involved in de-dolarisation for a while
moving from a 90% stronghold grasp by dollar in 2015 to a 45% in 2020
this control of russia would drop significantly if SWIFT was switched off.

SWIFT is used for major settlements and transactions between institutions across the globe. Any step to cutoff Russia from SWIFT would mean that none of their companies and people can pay for anything beyond their borders. The question is, does the average Russian directly makes use of SWIFT?

I think the answer would be no. It is mostly businesses and banks that do it with other businesses and other banks.

In order for Bitcoin to be an option, the other party would also have to accept Bitcoin. Just because Russia gets cutoff doesn't mean that the rest of the world will suddenly agree to circumvent the ban by exchanging BTC with them.

businesses never pay for goods the same day. they do invoices and credit lines.
if a business cant pay its amount today, they simply find another option tomorrow. such as the chinese CIPS or their CBDC via m-bridge

It is a bigger opportunity for the Chinese bankers to push their Asian payment system.What is more interesting is the switch to Euros from the dollar. There are 3 major world powers at the moment - Russia, China and the City of London. America and the EU are both puppets of the City of London, so one has to wonder why they are switching to the Euro. I guess they are going to use war to replace the  declining income from pseudo-vaccines, and run up US debt to collapse the dollar.

               I absolutely do not think that Russia even considers the option of using bitcoin or any other crypto currency right now since they aren't even on a very desperate situation yet. Mind you, Russia right now still has Italy and Germany which is their traditional customers which have both disagrees with the idea of cutting Russia off from Swift. But even if they do get cut off, they still have china as an option which China would gladly accept. I may be wrong but it's just how I understand the current situation.

I understand the logic that without Swift, Russia would get closer to China, but that's the worst thing which could ever happen.

Russia is a dying country, whereas China is a high growth country. You just need to walk in St Petersburg, where everything is old and rotten. You won't see anything new, whereas in Shanghai, there are hundreds of shiny new skyscrappers, new electric buses, all the people have the latest smartphones, there are huge billboard screens everywhere, malls brighter than a Las Vegas casino...

Between China and BTC, Russians would be wiser to choose crypto.

hmm. seems some love the Fox news imagery

St peterburg is like london circa 1995 architecture
however
moscow is like london circa now, it even has more population then london
many people think this is how they see moscow
https://www.history.com/.image/ar_16:9%2Cc_fill%2Ccs_srgb%2Cfl_progressive%2Cg_faces:center%2Cq_auto:good%2Cw_768/MTU3ODc5MDg3NTA5ODczOTkz/istock_000003332948large.jpg
though this is how others see moscow
https://thequantuminsider.com/wp-content/uploads/Moscow.jpeg

if your watching news reports where a reporter has deliberately stood in a ancient architectural area, maybe the other story they are telling is that they want viewers to see "russia" as ancient

you know. like those charity aid TV adverts that show shanty towns in ethiopia.
yet if they were to pan the camera around they would see the shanty towns border large city scapes.
this is the ethiopia you will never see on an oxfam/foodaid charity advert
https://w4c.org/sites/default/files/styles/paragraph_image/public/2019-08/IMG_20190815_114920%20%281%29_1.jpg?itok=5L20H5EF

.. much like how countryfree specifically tried to pick st petersburg, rather than moscow for comparison, to make it seem like everything in russia is like st petersburg

im not for russia or asia, but i atleast have an open mind to look beyond the propaganda

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as for picking an outlet for international funds

look into the BIS and their M-bridge. linking russian and chinese CBDC
the BIS is like the brics equivalent to the amero IMF

I've read that too. They were trying to de-dollarize for quite a while already by using the EUR along with China. This is kind of a way for China to sway other countries to use something else while they also push Yuan (RMB) on some other countries, the Caribbean for example is using Yuan. A lot is happening worldwide not just this Russia and it seems very coordinated. But I think all these are going in the direction of making BTC a legal tender everywhere thanks to sanctions.

While I agree that this can be a good opportunity for Bitcoin to shine, I guess we also have to see the other side of the coin. Once Bitcoin can be fully utilized by Russia to circumvent the economic embargo and the ban on the use of SWIFT, I am sure that big countries can be looking at Bitcoin not in a good way. Of course, no government can be banning Bitcoin but we know that in reality powerful governments can make it so difficult to deal with Bitcoin if they would be using their state initiative to do something about it. We have seen it in Canada recently where Trudeau and his minions did not look kindly at cryptocurrency because on their eyes it became the tool of their perceived enemies. Anyway, I am hoping for the best so let's see what can be under this circumstances.

Yes exactly. You may not have buyer and seller against the other countries but bitcoin retains its value at all times because simply it is being valued due to its ongoing transaction in rest of the world.
How beautiful this is.

I am imagining Russia as separated dome right now which is like having its own wall around its continent, no one comes in no one goes out in commercial aspect.

BUT, bitcoin? Oh yeah, the internet forms the best bridge between all of them and it can be easily traded.

They may shut down internet, but bitcoin in the wallet stays as it is! The value remains same because value is from all around the global transaction.

The civilized world is quite actively isolating Russia from the outside world for its military aggression against Ukraine. In his speech, Biden said that although Russia will not yet be disconnected from the SWIFT payment system due to the disagreement of some countries, the economic sanctions imposed will cause even more damage than this disconnection. All settlements in dollars, euros, yen, pound sterling are prohibited for Russia, the most powerful sanctions have been imposed on the largest banks in Russia. Soon we will be able to see and evaluate this in practice. In Russia, even bankers no longer know how the banking system will continue to work. There were mostly only exaggerated talks about their payment system, it will take some more time to launch it. By the time it is launched, Russia will already be bankrupt.
Against this background, the two largest banks in China are already significantly limiting settlements and transactions with Russia. They will be produced on a case-by-case basis with the permission of the country's top leadership and only in yuan. Hopes that China would remain Russia's main ally after the sanctions were imposed did not materialize. China also refuses Russian oil due to the uncertainty of financial calculations.
The transition to the use of cryptocurrency will not save the Russian financial system. So it's interesting to see what they'll do next. It is necessary that everyone understand that direct military aggression will be severely punished by the civilized world.

Every passing day the sanctions are becoming more strong and powerful,the more we isolate Russia right now the better for Western countries and Europe.Putin I believe now has concluded that this was a bold move and not premeditated like Biden says because if it was I think Putin would have taken measures against sanctions but so far nothing is being done to stop this or to find an alternative to Russian economy.Russia will be bankrupt in no time and that is what they deserve for causing mass blood and destruction together with killing innocent civilians.

This looks like Russia has planned well and executed the war, if not there is no need for the legalizing of bitcoin prior to the days of war. It seems like Russia have well analysed about the blocks, and now people will use the cryptocurrencies they hold. By the time there arises a question, what will the people do if they don't have cryptocurrencies. This is an opportunity for growth, but this is temporary in my view.

Few countries have taken the neutral stand, which seems like they're in mutual benefitting. Isolation is the only way with which the war severity can be reduced.

With the closure of SWIFT access, of course it will make it very difficult for Russia to carry out both trade activities and any international transactions with other countries, due to sanctions and also pressure from other countries on Russia, of course it will have a bad impact on the country economy later, now I think that NATO countries are starting to try to shut down Russia economic activities, and it will automatically make Russia weak like America did by prohibiting Russia from using the dollar as a tool for international, so I think bitcoin and crypto may be the right solution and also a shield to withstand the economic war carried out by NATO countries.

Except these's one little big problem.

90% of the stuff you actually need to be able to buy are not available for crypto.

For example - Service registrations, store purchases, gas, utility payments, subscriptions all require cash or card.

Also, because there is no officially recognized way to withdraw bitcoins as RUB banknotes, peoples BTC would be stranded in their wallets.

Remember that BTC is not legal tender in Russia so this makes it at best severely inconvenient, and at worst impossible for the average Russian to buy stuff in Russia.

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This does not even take into account that cutting Russia off of SWIFT doesn't even prevent Russian banks from servicing transactions to/from local merchants, so it is useless as a crippling tactic. Ironically, it would make it harder for Russians to buy and sell crypto with cards and wire transfers.

That's a good thing to stop the war effort but hopefully the sanctions aren't going to affect the citizens of their country because the people in the country are against this war. Good thing that they're removed from Swift which is definitely devastating for them as each time something important is cut off from them, they'll eventually slow down.

Currently America and its allies are continuing to try to stop the Russian military action in Ukraine, one of which is by continuing to apply social and economic sanctions to Russia, the decision taken by America in my opinion is the right step so that the Russian economy will weaken slightly later, now America has imposed sanctions on two Russian state-owned banks, namely the State Development Bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) and the Public Joint Stock Company Promsvyazbank (PSB), from the news I read in the Reuters media, VEB is very crucial for Russia to raise funds, while PSB is very important for the Russian defense sector so that this sanction will certainly have a very strong impact on the Russian economy.

Source : https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/western-sanctions-banks-only-scratch-surface-fortress-russia-2022-02-24/

I had read this threat long before this invasion was actually carried out.  Basically, Putin has already taken a big step in this war.  Of course, the risks and impacts are definitely considered by him.  Regarding Russia's termination in Swift, it is not a crucial issue that can directly cripple their economy.  Putin has also frequently conducted bilateral communications regarding the mitigation of solutions to the world's dependence on SWIFT.  In fact, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia was indeed the act of playing against the US side itself.  Russia will not interfere as long as it is not disturbed, the Ukrainian government is too leaning towards NATO just because there is business of Joe Biden's son in their country.  This is the impact, all only people who suffer.

This invasion of Ukrain was not a plan from yesterday so it makes sense when the Russia Government didn't go full scale on banning Bitcoin and was looking at how to regulate its mining and maybe possible adoption because they know all these sanctions will follow the action they are about to take which we are seeing now and Bitcoin is an alternative. 

Never seen Fox news in my life, but I've been to St Petersburg, while I've never been to Moscow, but I had a Russian wife who told me that St Petersburg is a much more beautiful city than Moscow.

Back to the subject, I have news, I've received an email from my bank in Lithuania:


The Russians will start to feel the heat...

Perhaps now they will appreciate the true meaning of decentralization, maybe this war is a blessing in disguise for the crypto community and most especially for btc mainstream recognition.  By the time they find it hard to transact with the bank and realize how btc has come to their aid, I am sure they will see btc from a different and more clear perspective.

I think Russia is expecting to see such thing happening and that's not surprising for them at least not after starting the war, They were working on legalizing for weeks and In my idea, they are counting on bitcoin to bypass the possible economic sanctions keep doing their own business internationally with their other friends, also that's not only for their government because after the sanctions there will be some problems for Russian people to use the online shops and some payment systems while they can bypass by it using bitcoin.

Perhaps it is not the best way to prevail, but at some point something similar will happen with bitcoin, there will be no better option because there will always be other ways to make payments between governments, it currently happens countries that pay their peers with oil, gold, in end, but the point is that in this situation the swift network will not be activated 100% against russia and in any case its effect is not immediate, it may take weeks.

Well well well , it's a bit sad but a very fresh news one. So instead calling bitcoin price get dropped as there is an uncertainity behind the russia-ukraine war ... should we call it as a bullish one this time?
We knew that the latest drop was organic correction .. and with the current circumstances .. we can really expect bitcoin usage rose for russian doing their international transactions.

Now it feels like crypto win , crypto are the true global money that unite us!

everything seems to be true .... announcement a few minutes ago at the press conference...

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10555731/EU-Commission-president-Ursula-von-der-Leyen-commits-cutting-Russian-banks-Swift.html

Von der Leyen announced that the European Union (within UK and USA) are in agreement with the removal of some Russian banks from the SWIFT system.

Things have escalated to the top most level now. This situation cannot be a fantastic opportunity for Bitcoin as most countries do not recognise Bitcoin as a legal tender. This war may get converted into a nuclear war after those saction. More than 70 percent of Russian foreign reserves now cannot be used by them. The Russian President in the month of January had stated to the US president that tough sanction again Russia would be treated as an act of war. 

Here is the link to the article - https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-states/putin-tells-biden-imposing-sanctions-will-be-seen-as-an-act-of-war/video/201c5d652d0575ebde26181c509fd641

War shouldn’t be a way for Bitcoin to thrive, I would support in every other way but not in this one. Because, Russia adopting Bitcoin at this point might be bad for Bitcoin as regulators might be forced to go heavy this time on Bitcoin if they should notice that Russia has resorted to making use of Bitcoin to by passe very restrictions to other countries. This can make political bodies around the world to start shutting down cryptocurrency exchanges.

So it’s not good, Russia adopting Bitcoin at this time is not what we need, we do need them, we are good enough. Seems like you haven’t been reading the news, a lot of Russians elites, and every company or organization linked to Russia are being banned or shut down. So, we don’t need Russia please. Thanks.

In my opinion, I honestly think that Putin knows what’s coming for him after declaring war on Ukraine and I think he is prepared for such sanctions like banning SWIFT. I’ve also seen the news via Google search that BTC rebounded after Biden announced sanctions on Russia.

And since BTC cannot be banned in any way (not even China can stop it despite their severe consequences after making BTC illegal), there’s no stopping Russia from raising funds to evade sanctions, which may result for Bitcoin to skyrocket later on. I think this is one of the reasons why sanctions don’t work for Putin.

They are thinking about Bitcoin during the war in Russia and Ukraine. They are working hard to make Bitcoin the talk of their country. Russia has been working to make Bitcoin sound for the past few weeks. They have become accustomed to the fact that cryptocurrency means everything. So now they can talk about my country working with bitcoin.
Russia's largest investment corporations have made it clear that they will stay ahead as long as they legalize Bitcoin. But it is clear that the cryptocurrency will make the world more reliable. Why would they lag behind there. That's why they're working on it.

Of course, Bitcoin cannot be banned in any way.

But the United States and the EU have decided to ban bitcoin, in contrast to where Russia is working on legitimacy. Because, Russia is using it to evade sanctions. Because if Russia can avoid their sanctions then the price will skyrocket.

Do you think that the way they are working on it, they will be able to complete the work by overcoming all the obstacles?

They're really into bitcoin as the last weeks news about them is that they're trying to legalize it. I guess they have to expedite any proposal regarding bitcoin that shall be adopted by their country since swift is no longer with them. I am uncertain with how I should feel with this news since we're into bitcoin but we don't want the war to proceed and just have it halt completely. We're happy because it's an opportunity for bitcoin but the casualties of the war that they've started is saddening and isn't right.

looks like they have been ready for those kinds of hostility by their enemies and they were experiencing with bitcoins lately, I think we will finally see some kind of green light for bitcoins here since there will have no choice but to adopt it and the holders will rejoice if that will gonna happen in this year. A bad move for its enemies since Russia has their own alternatives or Plan B when something like this happened, no matter how hard they impose sanctions against them, it won't really matter.

Definitely it would be a fantastic opportunity for bitcoin soon.
And no doubts that people from that country will gonna choose bitcoin instead of storing money from banks again, because obviously bitcoin has freedom and most russian people didn't see it on their government.

To be honest IMO it seems already planned reason before the war started they legalize bitcoin first.

Well, now you can see why some governments are so opposed to Bitcoin and Crypto currencies. These governments have certain tools like "Swift" to use in situations like this, to force other governments and even smaller groups and individuals to adhere to their agenda.

This is also why governments use tax payers money to bail out Banks ....when they f@ck up. (like they did several times back in 2008...) So that they can have leverage over these centralized financial systems.  ::)

Yes, I am just hoping that we don’t know come to that though. The world would really be looking for a way to cut Russia off from everything, and if Bitcoin seems like it is getting in the way of them being able to do that, they might decide to do everything possible to tighten every space so that there wouldn’t be a chance for Russia to circumvent the ban on the use of SWIFT.

It doesn’t seem quite good to me that Russia has decided to embrace bitcoin at a time like this, makes it seem like they are aware of what would follow after the action they were going to take, so they decide that it would be best for them to start accepting Bitcoin. Anyways let’s keep hoping for the better, and that things don’t get so bad.

Now everyone will learn that bitcoin is a perfect currency used in any condition. Not only Russians will need it but Ukrainians are also now relying on bitcoin. Many of them are buying bitcoin to use for their international transactions because of limited e banking transactions.

Well, it seems it's happening. I understand BTC will be awkward for many people and businesses, but they just have no other choice.

Yes, no one was ready for such a turn of events. It's a lie. Simple people are not ready for new sanctions, many had meals after Sanctions of 2014, and now there will be new even more terrible and what no one knows.
Apparently the hope was what will be as in 2014, that sanctions will be limited and will not harm and now apparently woke up and understood how seriously everything.
Bitcoin will not help here with sanctions.

It is? great but why is the price of bitcoin still in red? But I guess the effect is not immediate and can take some time. Bitcoin can be awkward but only to those that have not heard or used it before. Bitcoin is not new and I believe that lots of people already have an idea or have an experience on how it works.

Bitcoin is surely going to be their alternative if banking will be temporarily unavailable but is there only one global bank available in Russia? I thought there are several numbers of them and they can switch on the other banks if the current one that they use is not available anymore but oh well, bitcoin is better than banks anyway.

For many years, we thought that the world financial system would change. With this war, in fact, a step has been taken for this. If swaps are not possible, people can start using bitcoin to send money. We can all see that this is an excellent opportunity.
Russia is a country with very large commercial activities. There will surely be something positive for bitcoin and it will contribute to the rise of the price. Now everyone will see how easy it is to send money with bitcoin :)

I believe that this is exactly what will happen. Since, according to what I can tell, not all Russian banks were cut off from the SWIFT system, it is likely that all transactions will take place through those banks that remain. There's a possibility of companies and private individuals turning to cryptocurrencies, but I doubt that will happen with the banking business.

I looked like it was a great chance for Bitcoin before there were only thoughts to cut off from SWIFT. But as soon as it was really done, crypto price has dropped significantly. I can see that Bitcoin has lost more than a thousand in one hour. Honestly, this does not look like a "great chance to buy low", that looks like something dangerous, complicated, unknown. Could Russia be completely cut of the Internet? If yes, then there is no use for them to switch to Bitcoin payment.

Bitcoin will not react directly to such news as we saw before with the pandemic when in the beginning in March 2020 it went as down as 3000 dollars for a Bitcoin but in the end of the year started a big rebound and in February 2021 was near 60.000 dollars,May 2021 near 65.000 dollars and in October 2021 near 68.000 dollars.Bitcoin will most probably not increase a lot as it is just one country with just 150 mln people as population which is Russia.Unfortunately for them Putin screw up big this time and their economy will be soon bankrupt and not even Bitcoin can recover it.

And what is 1k USD? It also gained more than 1k on thursday - that's called volatility. We are also -50% from the top which is making people fearful, so don't expect the price to rally back to the ATH just like that. We are going to stay here for a moment until the war ends. People who are afraid of a world war won't be keen on investing. I see that as a mistake, but unfortunately the majority dictates where the market goes.

We have yet to see the details of the plan, as I've read that the Swift ban will be limited. I guess it could be total for businesses, but transfers would remain allowed for individuals?

Anyway, the real problem for Russians would be sell their rubles. I would never exchange my BTC for Russian currency.

Maybe selected banks, because there are American Banks like Goldman, Stanley, Bank of America, JPMorgan among others that I don't think will be part of this sanction.  With this sanction, some individuals will really find other options on how to move their funds to safety. And one thing that is a very good choice is via crypto. But it would need time for the individuals to be acquainted on how to deal with crypto. So it would take time before they can appreciate the benefits of crypto market. But it may possibly drive more adoption as people in that affected region are struggling to secure their assets.

It may but it may not , because while the war is in process i don't think there will be an effect towards this situation .

yes Bitcoin is in good position in this but how long would this take before being in crypto market? like now that the prices keeps in dumping or staying neutral while many are still in afraid of losing their funds .

The sanctions are extended to cards:

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/03/01/visa-mastercard-block-russian-financial-institutions-after-sanctions.html

No more Visa nor Mastercard.
There are Russian cards but they don't work much outside of Russia.
So it's BTC or cash. Nothing else.

We all know that central banks can freeze fiat funds, yet it appears that even they are not immune from it in centralized systems.
U.S. escalates sanctions with a freeze on Russian central bank assets. (https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/28/us/politics/us-sanctions-russia-central-bank.html)

All possible ways are getting closed. Even the card transactions were closed. Now this doesn't allow Russians to convert their fiat to cryptocurrency. The scenario becomes worse. This leaves Russia unable to access the War Chest of more than $640 billion. As the banks were cut-off, the Russians were the sufferers to recover the economy against the sanctions. As a result the interest rates were raised to 20% which is the highest in two decades. The decision of Putin makes the life worse for the citizens who doesn't want a war on Ukraine.

The biggest problem for Russians right now, is that if BTC remains possible, very few people are willing to exchange BTC for rubles. The Russian currency was already extremely difficult to exchange in most countries, it will be far worse now.

Ukraine now receives massive token donations and airdrops tokens to donors. Ukraine doesn't make me very happy, they seem to be in business.

I don't know if this information is correct but I hear from a friend that Russian is not only cut off from the Swift but they are also cut off from Visa, Mastercard, and Gpay.

After the lesson the pandemic has thought us, helping each other through the tough time is what the world needs not that a certain government will wage against another due to political ambition.

I will be to know what you mean that Ukraine doesn't make you happy because people that were able to go there claim the country need every support they could get.

I heard that they also demanded from centralized exchanges to stop and freeze the trading accounts on crypto exchanges for russians citizens. However binance, Coinbase and few other exchanges refused to do so.
This shows that only decentralized wallets are safest to store crypto and Russians seems to buy crypto in large quantities for last few days.

this scenario was already planned because the president of russia was already showing signs of dictator and his people did not want to see the danger he was becoming, so he had a lot of space to consolidate his fanatical supporters and today the world is seeing the result , and it would definitely be nice if bitcoin weren't involved in this whole conflict because that would be frowned upon by governments and all we don't need is to see governments chasing bitcoin, that wouldn't be good.... nowadays people buy bitcoin with bank card without having problems and having bitcoin in the sights of governments because it was used by countries that are war makers would not be good

Among the unprecedented series of sanctions imposed by the EU on Russia during a special military operation in Ukraine, the removal of Russian banks from the highly secure international payment system SWIFT seems to bring The consequences are even greater for not only the Russian economy.
But IMO, the opportunity of BTC is only one of the solutions that I think Russia can use. When this problem was studied years ago, they had their own payment system. And China's CIPS payment system could also be an alternative.

Another thing to keep in mind that most of the bitcoin which were minted back in 2010 and 2011 were by bitcoin miners located in Russia.
They have these bitcoins which are called "untainted". So they are well equipped to move their bitcoins around without detection.
They are very tech savvy and even the US recognizes if they plan to have a cyber themed war with them, they would lose. This has not been hidden on any of the media outlets and have been confessed by cyber security experts to be true.

News:

Experts reject concerns Russia will use crypto to bypass sanctions: ‘Totally unfounded’  (https://cointelegraph.com/news/experts-reject-concerns-russia-will-use-crypto-to-bypass-sanctions-totally-unfounded)

Actually, I never thought of the state. Germany buys natural gas from Russia, and Germany certainly won't use BTC to pay Russia. I meant BTC is a huge opportunity to bypass sanction for Russian individuals. Big business is another matter.

I am pretty certain Russia has their own exchanges so to process these payments for their bitcoin.
They afterall have been using bitcoin since the very start of it's inception.

I hadn't seen this:


It's from the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine.
Source:

https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1497922588491792386 (https://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/1497922588491792386)

Of course, the Ukrainians don't want that. Somehow, I understand them, but what they're asking is impossible.

Already Russia is cut-off from the swift. Added to that more seven banks which are commonly used by the people. The list includes VTB Bank, alongside Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank and VEB. This will even worsen the financial situation of the common people. Already people are queuing on the ATMs to withdraw money. The authorities need to realise all the invasion impacts were making common people suffer and not the president or the ministers.

In war situations, the people who suffer the most are the people, so it's not surprising that if the swift is revoked, more and more people will take their money and make it fiat, many think that later everything will be difficult, so they must have money to continue their lives until the situation is conducive. there is indeed a discourse from putin to use bitcoin, but we will wait for its development, if it is true, then the real function of bitcoin is increasingly proven

Yes, if it continues like this, will Russia be disintegrated economically and cut off Swift. There will be many people who will oppose Putin's continued fighting. Will Russia, the great nation, lose in this seemingly complete power? In a war of mismatches?

I think the "seems" can be removed, and the tokens will not be issued, which makes it hard for me to believe that the president of a country is doing something.

I've seen news that Binance, Coinbase and Kraken refuse to freeze Russian crypto accounts. However, it doesn't appear that these companies received an official demand to freeze such accounts from their competent authorities, but rather a request/appeal from the Ukrainian government. Of course, such an action is voluntary, so it is possible that these companies will follow the same path if stronger sanctions are imposed against Russia.

Every crypto holder from Russia would be wise to withdraw his funds from centralised exchanges and transfer them to more secure and private alternatives, so that if the situation escalates, they can still retain control over their funds.

Regarding Binance and other exchanges, actually, they're just following the law. Russian customers will no longer be able buy cryptos via a bank transfer from Russia, nor a credit card from a Russian bank. The Swift cut-off is about banks, not cryptos...

The phrase "special military operation in Ukraine" was coined by Putin and his entourage to hide a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine and the actual unleashing of a war against another state in the center of Europe. A 120,000-strong Russian army and the latest military equipment were introduced into the territory of Ukraine with the task of seizing its territory together with Kiev within three days, changing the political leadership there and subordinating the population of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. This has always been called declaring war on another state and seizing its territory. But the outbreak of war was hidden even from their own people.
The fact that Russia unleashed a full-scale war is also evidenced by its losses in the first eight days of the war, namely:
- 9166 people killed,
- 251 destroyed tanks,
- 939 armored vehicles,
- 33 aircraft,
- 37 attack helicopters,
- 105 artillery systems,
- 18 air defense systems,
- 367 cars and other equipment.
After the toughest international sanctions imposed on Russia, no cryptocurrency will save it. After all, sanctions affect the entire spectrum of the economy.

Remember a popular saying that those who make peace impossible make war inevitable? That's always the case with war. I ain't sure most people would want a war situation but then circumstances of disaffection and dissatisfaction are mostly what trigger wars. We've seen that play out in Russia. I, for one, don't like wars. Not because people get killed in it (people of course will always die, whether war or not), but because of the hardship women and children get to go through. The two major actors (the waring presidents) in this ongoing war don't seem to be concerned about that.

Bitcoin isn't viable right now in Russia, but the point of this post is that it accelerates the adoption of crypto because they remain immune from sanctions. USD is currently the dominant currency on the global market, but the Russians (and Chinese, for that matter) understand it takes almost nothing for the U.S. to freeze assets indefinitely, locking them out of billions without any form of recourse. Sure, the exchanges will be difficult for now, but 10 years down the line you could see massive adoption.

I hope that Bitcoin will seize this opportunity, strengthen the consensus of decentralization and anti-power, and lay the golden age of encryption.

Russia is the second largest country that uses SWIFT after the United States with access to exports and imports using SWIFT with a very high estimated transaction statistics, but the impact of the SWIFT cut-off also affects western countries and their allies due to oil and gas exports of energy commodities from Russia.

The imposition of sanctions and suspensions on Russia in various ways is unexpected due to the involvement of the European Union, but Russia has other ways of dealing with SWIFT problems using its competitors or alternatively using telex, email, and others. However, cryptocurrencies also have the opportunity to be used because access to international transactions to Russia has been frozen.

You just created a situation that can be possible when we look into the way Putin and NATO are going about this war with their ego on display. If the EU and America decide to go against bitcoin as a way of getting back to Russia, that will a big blow to bitcoin community and adoption. No one wants to see that happen. It will wipe off years of gains from the whole bitcoin struggle. I do not wish that happening.

there are a lot of disputes on this score that the alternative to SWIFT in the Russian Federation is bitcoin, but I think they will not come to this anyway, most likely they will create an analogue of SWIFT in their country and that will be the end of it, perhaps they will find some kind of golden mean with cryptocurrency together.

Some time ago bitcoin experienced a strong rally after many investors and the Russian public shifted the ruble to bitcoin, but the last two days Bitcoin actually experienced another decline after Federal Reserve (The Fed) Chairman Jerome Powell said he would raise interest rates in the near future, these statements seem to make the market weaken again and the effect of bitcoin falling to reach the price of $ 39K, and I think a decline like now is the right momentum for us to buy and it seems we don't need to doubt the with fundamentals bitcoin has,  because withstrong fundamentals of course it won't take long for bitcoin to rise again.

I had read this news too.It mean, the international transaction to Russia was banned. So no swift payments was made to Russia.It affect the economic situation in Russia. Russian properties in United States is going  block by the United States President. This was official statement made  by the president. So this gonna huge impact into the Russian Economy. The new way of stopping the war is reducing their economy with reducing of Economy.

Yes, Russia's invasion of Ukraine is indeed horrific, and any sanction that could help to end this madness is welcome. However, regarding SWIFT, did you know that the banking system did exist even before SWIFT was introduced? Yes, SWIFT is important to international economic activity, but, in reality, limiting SWIFT access to several Russian banks is less effective than most media coverage gives it credit for.

I've learned that Paypal also has stopped its services in Russia. I believe it's voluntary, Paypal isn't related to Swift, but it just add to the pressure against Russia.

Nowadays, there's just no choice. It's BTC or nothing for a Russian who wants to trade with a foreigner.

Exactly. The SWIFT ban will force Russian people to join the Bitcoin bandwagon in order to protect their purchasing power as much as possible. That, and the fact that the Russian government is starting to look for alternative ways to become self-sustainable should make Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies rise in mainstream adoption like never before. We ain't seen nothing yet, as the best is yet to come.

Undeniably, mainstream governments will try to pressure centralized exchanges to exclude Russian customers from getting access to Bitcoin. But they will ultimately fail as Bitcoin's decentralized and open source nature allows you to acquire it regardless of mainstream regulations. Decentralized exchanges will surely take off if countries begin to ban centralized exchanges for good. Bitcoin may still be far from its latest ATH, but it will get there soon as the global economy sinks deeper. Who knows if Fiat collapses for good, paving the way for full "hyperbitcoinization"? Just my thoughts ;D

Russia do have some alternatives to SWIFT I guess, but you have a point, it just shows how centralized institutions can even kick off banks when they want so better use a decentralised system in which one can always transfer and receive funds without the need of anyone's permission. The positives of crypto is shining really bright for all to see ;) :)

Now we will soon be able to see how effective international sanctions are against any aggressor country, since Russia, by attacking Ukraine, violated all international norms and obligations that could be violated. In fact, Putin has violated the system of collective security in the world, so very tough sanctions are applied against Russia.
The current situation is a good test for a decentralized cryptocurrency as well, as this is a rare opportunity for a cryptocurrency to shine in the face of a limited opportunity for all other currencies. But I don’t think that in Russia they will be able to effectively circumvent the imposed sanctions even with the help of cryptocurrency. . We can already see what is beginning to happen there, and after all, only a few days have passed.

I hope I'm wrong, but this may bring a sad ending, as president Biden is asking for more regulations on cryptos as they may be a way to evade sanctions:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-03-07/biden-to-sign-crypto-order-as-industry-faces-sanctions-pressure

This fight could be considered the biggest challenge ever for crypto and I see it doing very well against the banking systems. Undoubtedly, cryptocurrencies are becoming the bright spot thanks to sanctions. It's true that crypto can't help Russia circumvent the law to completely avoid sanctionsd, but it is working as a store of assets for citizens in Russia, transferring money across borders when the Swift system is cut off.

if this will indeed to take place then yes we must be sad as the effect will surely be taken seriously of the market, we knew how US government can act on this matter and if they will promote this truly ? i may stop collaborating for a while but will still keep my holdings on this matter.
Hoping that the war will end soon and the sanctioning will also end after.

This was inevitable. After the US and its allies sanctioned Russia, it was expected they would further regulate cryptocurrencies in order to avoid Russia from using them as a means to finance their operations. With the President Biden's new executive order, I'm afraid we'll see heavy-handed regulations from the US in the long run. This would mean decreased adoption of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in the country.

Russia may have been cut off from SWIFT, but it still has China's support. With crypto, Russia can circumvent sanctions due to its decentralized and censorship-resistant design. Governments may only be able to enforce regulations across centralized exchanges and wallet providers but they won't have much success with decentralized counterparts. We'll see how everything will play out in the long run as the global economy changes in many drastic ways. Just my thoughts ;D

The U.S controls the dollar but they can't control crypto and if regulations might be possible I think that will only be imposed on centralized platforms. I know there are only few us-based cex platforms, so Russia is still free from using bitcoin. We also have decentralized platforms / p2p, where they can freely transact without worry that they may get block or something. Sorry but you are truly wrong with your expectation, this does not bring an ending to the Russian users.

In most countries where there are no restrictions or sanctions, they can be able to use a bank but they are not happy with it. What they are using instead is cryptocurrency and bitcoin.

No doubt Russians have already turned to bitcoin as the sanctions bites harder. It's now left for the Russia federation to develop a system for their citizens to easily covert bitcoin to rubles and to establish a trade with their allies in digital currencies to help the ailing rubles. I feel for Russians because common men on the street suffer more from economic sanctions.

The Russian government will never legalize bitcoin in Russia.  Bitcoin will be used exclusively in illegal (grey) schemes. 

At present, the situation is developing in the most tragic way.  Russia has no chance to create the USSR - 2.0.  I think that ahead of Russia is a socio-economic crisis, and then a political crisis.  This crisis will lead to civil war in Russia. 

This is a huge tragedy. 

Everything that is happening now is a huge tragedy with far-reaching consequences.  The disconnection of the Russian financial system from the Swift payment system is just one link in a huge chain of misfortunes currently taking place in the world... 

Bitcoin will of course be used in cross-border payments. 

Satoshi Nakamoto created Bitcoin just for such crisis situations.

Personally, i don't see that cryptos can help Russia avoid the sanctions especially the one about banning it from Swift system.
Reasons : Russian Gaz custmers will not be able to pay Russia if cryptos isn't regulated in their countries. ; Cryptos isn't widely used in Russia and the other part of the world so think how many users/institutions banned from swift will use cryptos as an alternative.
I think the sanctions have a significant mpact that can't be avoided by just holding payments in cryptos.

This Russian lunatic can make any decision but I don't think bitcoin will be legalized. They may have thought about the legalization of Bitcoin before the conflict with Ukraine, but after the conflict, Ukraine opened up the cryptocurrency in their country and asked people for help with Bitcoin. That means they are very positive about Bitcoin.

This insane Russian man is more likely to refrain from adopting Bitcoin in Russia just to oppose Ukraine and USA.

^ In my own, they will not legalize BTC for sure because it becomes a conflict with their own currency.
Probably it could be an alternative currency but they were not legalizing it since the Russian government already hated BTC a long time ago.
This is what I am hoping for that someday they will realize how BTC is very useful and even if can't regulate it at least during sanctions there is an alternative currency that remains neutral for both countries Ukraine and Russia.

Now Russia is taking all measures to prevent capital flight from the country. The toughest international sanctions imposed have led to the fact that almost all foreign business with its investments has left Russia. In addition, a significant part of Russian citizens also began to export currency, given that the national ruble began to depreciate rapidly. Therefore, the government feverishly began to take measures to somehow strengthen its ruble. Citizens can no longer buy foreign currency, with the exception of the Chinese yuan.
Under these conditions, Russia is unlikely to fully legalize cryptocurrency. This step would be contrary to the current anti-crisis tasks of the government.

If Putin doesn't want to adopt Bitcoin in opposition of Ukraine and USA, it's probable he'll choose another cryptocurrency to keep Russia's economy afloat. Anything that would help Russia evade sanctions imposed by the West and the EU would be considered ideal for the country's self-sustainability. Either Putin adopts another cryptocurrency or he orders Russia's Central Bank to create a new Digital Ruble (a CBDC). I'm pretty sure China will help Russia economically in order to make it rise from the ground up. If Russia's economy is restored regardless of the sanctions, then the West (and the EU) would've ultimately failed. Who knows what the future holds for Russia and Ukraine? Just my thoughts ;D

If Russia will embrace Bitcoin, it will do more harm to Bitcoin than good. The world is "cancelling" Russia right now, there are many cases where anything associated with Russia gets boycotted, even if it isn't directly tied to Russia's war. If Bitcoin will be viewed as Russia's payment system, you can bet it will eventually get restricted in the West.

Instead of thinking "something bad in the world is an opportunity for Bitcoin", try thinking about how it can also harm Bitcoin, because such things could easily happen.

bitcoin is a currency there is no manipulation, and also very decentralized...

without SWIFT then all Russian citizens who are accustomed to using banks for transfers or other activities internationally will be cut off, and with bitcoin, it is a way out to transfer internationally freely and safely. bitcoin only -> Russia's way out to stay in touch with the outside world, especially transactions.

Yes Sir, I hope bitcoin is good for current situation, but Why Putin don't push Russian people to save money in form Bitcoin?
if Putin is big believer FIAT Standard why they fight NATO? all of them is FIAT standard is it?

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nice answer , now I'm understood why bitcoin still bearish.

then how about if Tsar bomba drop ? how much price Bitcoin , dreaming buy bitcoin dip :kiding:

[moderator's note: consecutive posts merged]

The crypto itself might be decentralized, but the exchanges and the connection between crypto and your bank account is centralized. Which means that if Russians wants to turn billions into crypto, they would have to use banks.

In their own nation, they could make it legal and supported, but then they would only have crypto, where could they cash that out to fiat again? Not in another nation, that would be hard because of the sanctions. All in all, it is not impossible to turn ruble into crypto into euro or dollars, there are ways you could do that but between being very expensive and also possibility of your fiat getting frozen, it is very risky.

Not necessarily. It's still possible to turn crypto to Fiat in-person or through P2P exchanges. You don't need banks as long as there are ways to exchange crypto to Fiat in a decentralized manner. As you've said before, what governments can only do is restrict centralized exchanges and wallet providers from conducting business with Russia. But they cannot stop decentralized exchanges because of the way they are designed.

I believe Russia will rely on crypto from now on in order to keep its economy afloat. No one knows what's in Putin's mind right now, so the only thing we can do is speculate. Who knows what the future holds for Russia's economy? Just my opinion :)

Due to Russia’s cut off from swift has left russian with only bitcoin as an option for making international transactions. This has resulted in Russians buying bitcoin at $ 20,000 above the market price.