Information

On the use in transactions "virtual currency ", in particular , Bitcoin


The Bank of Russia said that recently in the world have a certain distribution of the so -called "virtual currency " , in particular, Bitcoin . By "virtual currencies " and there is no provision for them legally obliged entities . These operations are speculative in nature, carried out on the so -called "virtual exchanges " and carry a high risk of loss of value.

The Bank of Russia warns citizens and legal entities , primarily credit institutions and non-credit financial institutions , the use of "virtual currency " for them in exchange for goods ( works, services) or cash in rubles and foreign currency.

According to article 27 of the Federal Law "On the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (Bank of Russia ) " issue in the Russian Federation monetary surrogates prohibited.

Due to the anonymous nature of the activity for the production of "virtual currency " unlimited range of actors and to use them for transactions citizens and legal persons may be , including unintentionally involved in illegal activities , including the legalization (laundering ) of proceeds from crime and terrorist financing .

The Bank of Russia has warned that Russian legal entities providing services for the exchange of "virtual currency " in rubles and foreign currency , as well as for goods (works , services ) will be considered as a potential involvement in the implementation of suspicious transactions in accordance with the legislation on counteraction to legalization (laundering ) proceeds of crime and financing of terrorism.

January 27, 2014

Using materials reference to the press service of the Bank of Russia is required .

    Wells Fargo calls Bitcoin summit on ‘rules of engagement’

    Wells Fargo has convened a group of finance executives, virtual currency experts and representatives from the US government to discuss “rules of engagement” with Bitcoin, amid concern about the money laundering risks of the new currency.

    The bank, the largest in the US by market value, has emerged as one of the major financial institutions most interested in dealing with a potential new Bitcoin economy. But regulatory uncertainty has deterred banks from offering services to virtual currency start-ups.

    Wells’ anti-money laundering chief, Jim Richards, has launched a group to examine how it might safely offer Bitcoin-related services or banking arrangements to virtual currency entrepreneurs, according to people familiar with the initiative.

    Last year, US authorities seized a Wells Fargo bank account belonging to Mark Karpeles, founder of Bitcoin exchange Mt.Gox, and charged him with failing to declare that the account would be used to run a money transmitting business.

    Earlier in 2013, the US Treasury declared that Bitcoin businesses must register as money services businesses and impose anti-money laundering checks on customers, just like traditional banks. Most of the 50 US states also impose their own regulations on money services businesses.

    Banks worried that they would be held responsible for any money laundering breaches at Bitcoin companies that failed to meet these stringent standards and before each of the states had clarified their own approaches to Bitcoin.

    The difficulty in persuading financial institutions to offer bank accounts has become one of the biggest difficulties facing Bitcoin entrepreneurs in the US.

    Wells’ public-private group, comprising more than a dozen members, was scheduled to meet in San Francisco on Tuesday to debate the security issues surrounding banking and Bitcoin.

    One possible aim would be to produce a set of anti-money laundering principles for established financial institutions to follow when dealing with virtual currency start-ups, according to a person familiar with the event.

    Wells chief executive John Stumpf said it was the bank’s practice to examine financial innovations.

    “We have made enormous investments as a company and as an industry in a payments system that is secure, and we need to be sure we are up to speed with what other things are going on and their risks and rewards,” he said.

    “We want to make sure we understand what it is, what it does and what it does not . . . .. The world is changing and will continue to change. Whether Bitcoin will be a big part of that, who knows?”

    Last month the Congressional Research Service circulated a report on virtual currencies for policy makers, setting out a list of areas where the legal and regulatory approach to Bitcoin remains unclear. These range from national tax issues, because Bitcoin profits are not recorded within the traditional financial system, to concerns among individual states.

    “Bitcoin raises a number of legal and regulatory concerns including its potential for facilitating money laundering, its treatment under federal securities law, and its status in the regulation of foreign exchange trading,” the report said.

    And it added: “State authorities moving in the direction of regulating virtual currencies are sometimes discovering problems in applying existing laws to the technological currencies.”

 I just bought 10 at $260. Now it's back up to $320. Thanks.

Hello guys,

To me, it seems pretty strange that people actually continues buying btc now...
I understood why they wanted to invest in btc before, after the Chyprus crisis, and all the articles in the media. But now?

I don't get it.


Bitcoin is useless, and will most likely never be used as a currency. I spent hours trying to get my first bitcoins (satoshi actually), and after working for ages, I only got 0.002 btc, which does not even allow me to proceed to a transaction (the fees are higherthan that amount  ). When you compare it with CC or paypal, it seems that they are free to use in comparison! Not to mention the time required to actually proceed to a transaction which can be anything between 1 minute and ... 1 year (or more?).

The only possible reason I see people are buying btc is that they (truly) believe that the price will increase, and want to make more profit. I think that 99.99 % of the bitcoins exchanged are never withdrawn from the exchangers, and the people are only waiting to make some profits. What makes them believe that the price will rise? Because the amount of bitcoins is limited? Because lost coins can never be recovered? I have no clue.


An other problem is the "mining" part. Soon, the difficulty will increase, CPU and GPU mining will be useless. People will stop mining bitcoins and try LTC or something easy to get... The interest in btc will decrease.


Other issues:
- security. Not a single company was able to provide a "professional" service. Bitcoin-24 has a serious problem ( https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=174600.0 ). Even mtgox was critized for the lags, problems with missing coins, money, delay, and so on ... The hacks are countless (you can see new topics about that every day ...).


I can't see anything positive about btc, and still can't get why people are buying it. Can any captain obvious explains? Thanks.