[2019-07-18] 12 world leaders. 12 opinions about crypto.

[mich]

https://quotes.cointelegraph.com = explains country status, sounds like Pres. of Brazil is lying

World Leaders from these countries speak about BITCOIN:

Brazil = "I do not know what bitcoin is."

US =  "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity..."

China = "A new generation of technology represented by artificial intelligence, quantum information, mobile communications, internet of things and blockchain is accelerating breakthrough applications."

Russia = "Federal laws [are] aimed at the development of the digital economy, including determining the procedure for conducting civil law transactions in electronic form, as well as regulating digital financial assets and attracting financial resources using digital technologies. Deadline — July 1, 2019."

South Africa = "To ensure that we effectively and with greater urgency harness technological change in pursuit of inclusive growth and social development, I have appointed a Presidential Commission on the 4th Industrial Revolution."

France = "Let’s do this in Europe, [be at the] the vanguard of agricultural data by developing tools that will track every product from raw material production to packaging and processing."

India = "The government does not consider cryptocurrencies as legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate [the] use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities, or as part of the payment system."

Japan = "In addition to the financial effects, we see that blockchain has the potential to make various industries safer and more efficient. Certain local venture companies are utilizing the ‘sandbox system,’ and are striving to be the world’s first business model to enhance the liquidity of digital assets."

Malta = "We will now be showing people the added value of [blockchain] technology [by] applying it to something which they will use in their daily lives. This shows how the digital transformation will affect their lives."

Ukraine = "You may say that I'm a naive dreamer, but we really want to build a country inside a smartphone, a government inside a smartphone. […] Innovations make all the processes transparent and efficient and deprive corrupt officials of their livelihoods. Would a spetsnaz blackmail you to seize documents if these documents were digitalized? Would another raider change the owner’s name in cadastre records if it were a blockchain records?"

Albania = "As part of our effort to open up new markets and create new opportunities for well-paid jobs and qualified people […] we [have been] exploring the possibility of setting up a regulatory framework on cryptocurrency which is a shocking novelty nowadays and where the opportunity to be innovative and set up a center of gravity for innovative financial markets is open for every country despite their level of development."

Belarus = "Wait, we’ll build a nuclear power plant and will have excess of electricity… I’ve left some room there. We’ll build farms and we’ll be mining these bitcoins and selling them. Moreover, they say when there is a bitcoin, there is no problem to sell it."

[buwaytress]

No offense but I don't think Malta could ever count itself as a world leader. A pioneer in blockchain jurisdiction maybe (but only next to Gibraltar and San Marino?). Could even argue about Albania, not even the top 100 economies.

Bolsonaro also didn't say that like that... he just shrugged the question in dismissal, the way perhaps Craig Wright might say "I don't know (Satoshi). Is he Japanese?".

[CryptoBry]

We live in a world of diversity and many times world leaders and governments can have opposing views on many things. Exercising their own sovereign power, we can always expect different takes on Bitcoin, the blockchain and the rest of the cryptocurrency market. However, it should be noted that we should appreciate the fact that world leaders and governments are now talking about this topic as this can be the start of a greater awareness that can many years from now lead to a greater adoption by more and more people. We should have the patience and tenacity of the hackers in waiting for that dreamed massive adoption to happen as nothing can be overnight here. Let's prefer to see the silver lining as that can eventually be coming despite the many bumps on the road.

[Carlton Banks]

anything they've got to say is irrelevant. The blockchain is both anti-fragile and anti-corrupt, no politician can effect how it operates in any meaningful way.

So politcians (or anyone else, for that matter) can say what they want, it makes no difference

[Betwrong]

No offense but I don't think Malta could ever count itself as a world leader.~

Ukraine is no world leader either, but I like what its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, said:

Ukraine = "You may say that I'm a naive dreamer, but we really want to build a country inside a smartphone, a government inside a smartphone. […] Innovations make all the processes transparent and efficient and deprive corrupt officials of their livelihoods. Would a spetsnaz blackmail you to seize documents if these documents were digitalized? Would another raider change the owner’s name in cadastre records if it were a blockchain records?"

Isn't it obvious, that blockchain technologies can help fighting corruption? Shouldn't other governments embrace them too? Unfortunately, we can't be sure even about Ukraine regarding implementation of blockchain technologies on the governmental level, even though the new president of the country seems wants it to happen. There are too many corrupt politicians still in power, everywhere in the world, not only in Ukraine, and they do everything they can to postpone an effective method of dealing with them.

[hugeblack]

Cryptocurrencies will redefine money for many people, politicians do not want it, they want to tax all the money you have.
So, as long as they can not get benefits from it, they will attack them.

Some countries believe that the strength of these currencies will not affect the strength of their local currency, so some legislative laws are put in order to achieve some gains and impose a little tax.

[hatshepsut93]

anything they've got to say is irrelevant. The blockchain is both anti-fragile and anti-corrupt, no politician can effect how it operates in any meaningful way.

So politcians (or anyone else, for that matter) can say what they want, it makes no difference

Not only that, but the blockchain they talk about is that centralized "blockchain technology" that is being developed by companies like IBM - it has nothing to do with cryptocurrency, it doesn't empower the users, it's just a set of frameworks for decentralized computing with a small amount of parties, often being only an early prototype. We should mostly just ignore any statements that say "blockchain" instead of "Bitcoin" or "cryptocurrency".

[davis196]

Wow,I'm surprised by the statement of the Belarusian president.Building a nuclear power plant and mining bitcoins in order to sell them.I though that Belarus isn't bitcoin friendly at all.
The other leaders aren't talking about bitcoin in particular(except Trump).They are just talking general BS about high tech development and blockchain adoption.

[BitHodler]

anything they've got to say is irrelevant. The blockchain is both anti-fragile and anti-corrupt, no politician can effect how it operates in any meaningful way.

So politcians (or anyone else, for that matter) can say what they want, it makes no difference

We know that, but they certainly don't. I don't mind them putting it to a test because that will demonstrate how little meaning their statements or even actions have. Bitcoin withstood more shit than these people think.

I do however like that more politicians actually understand what Bitcoin is, and to some degree even use it to trash talk Libra-- not even that long ago the narrative was blockchain not Bitcoin, now it seems to be Bitcoin not Libra.

[1Referee]

Wow,I'm surprised by the statement of the Belarusian president.Building a nuclear power plant and mining bitcoins in order to sell them.I though that Belarus isn't bitcoin friendly at all.

Belarus has actually been quite friendly towards the blockchain industry. They do not charge blockchain related startups a single percent tax in order to have them become an interesting enough place to settle at. On top of that, the largest bank in Belarus has shown interest in building a crypto exchange of some sort, which might be where they end up selling their coins, lol. 

In the end, Bitcoin doesn't care about what a president or central bankster has to say. It keeps working with precision just like it has done so in the past. It's governments and banks that need to adapt, Bitcoin came into existence adapted. You're either part of it or not. Those who aren't will eventually pay the price for it.

[veleten]

you think that president of Brazil could have never heard of bitcoin?
I think it is possible , especially given the amount of the information they are getting every day , this could have as well not be one of the priorities
speaking of Russia and its deadline of July 1 , it has already passed and we hear about a bill that is going to be discussed in autumn now
this saga has been ongoing for years in Russia with no end to be seen
Ukrainian president is an ex-comedian so his statements can be roughly treated as a stand up gig - a government inside a smartphone, need I to say more ....
he has no power to decide anything and is completely dependent on the oligarchs that brought him in the office
and I do not remember Lukashenko , the president of Belarus say that
at least they are considered to be very start up and crypto friendly , for some reason ( probably because of the tax laws ) , but I can't imagine them doing something that contradicts the Russia's policies in this area

[mich]

No offense but I don't think Malta could ever count itself as a world leader. A pioneer in blockchain jurisdiction maybe (but only next to Gibraltar and San Marino?). Could even argue about Albania, not even the top 100 economies.

Bolsonaro also didn't say that like that... he just shrugged the question in dismissal, the way perhaps Craig Wright might say "I don't know (Satoshi). Is he Japanese?".

I think you accidently read it out of context- malta's world leader is Prime Minister Joseph Muscat. 
The article was not implying that Malta is a world power

[Slow death]

Brazil = "I do not know what bitcoin is."

The president of Brazil seems to me to be a person of little technology knowledge, although he does not take radical action on cryptocurrencies, nor does he seem to have any knowledge on how these cryptocurrencies can be beneficial for his country.

US =  "I am not a fan of Bitcoin and other Cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air. Unregulated Crypto Assets can facilitate unlawful behavior, including drug trade and other illegal activity..."

If someone asked him:

- How long has he done bitcoin research to reach this conclusion?

it would be very interesting to hear his answer

China = "A new generation of technology represented by artificial intelligence, quantum information, mobile communications, internet of things and blockchain is accelerating breakthrough applications."

China always prefers to force its people to use things of their own making, so attitude against bitcoin is not something that should shock us

Russia = "Federal laws [are] aimed at the development of the digital economy, including determining the procedure for conducting civil law transactions in electronic form, as well as regulating digital financial assets and attracting financial resources using digital technologies. Deadline — July 1, 2019."

russia is other dark country like china

India = "The government does not consider cryptocurrencies as legal tender or coin and will take all measures to eliminate [the] use of these cryptoassets in financing illegitimate activities, or as part of the payment system."

it seems to me that they are worse than china and russia together

[roosbit]

Lucky enough for bitcoin and it's users it does not rely on a central power or someone's opinion despite this having some influence.

But what's even more confusing is some prominent companies in some of these countries have adopted to use cryptocurencies but their governments indirectly deny their people from using these coins...

What's really the meaning of these crypto statements