Russian Law Would Send Bitcoin Users to Jail as Cybercriminals

[BitconAssociation]

No wonder! Russia has a fascist government and they simply don't allow people to have free money.

To be fair, Bitcoin is still not banned in Russia. Not like it is in Fascist Iceland, which is a part of EU.

[magemist]

No wonder! Russia has a fascist government and they simply don't allow people to have free money.

To be fair, Bitcoin is still not banned in Russia. Not like it is in Fascist Iceland, which is a part of EU.

If it is not banned there then what do you call it when they say if you are caught using it you will be arrested/ put in jail?

[BitconAssociation]

No wonder! Russia has a fascist government and they simply don't allow people to have free money.

To be fair, Bitcoin is still not banned in Russia. Not like it is in Fascist Iceland, which is a part of EU.

If it is not banned there then what do you call it when they say if you are caught using it you will be arrested/ put in jail?

http://www.coindesk.com/information/is-bitcoin-legal/

Iceland

One of only two countries to have instigated a ban on bitcoin and other digital currencies due to capital controls resulting from the banking crisis of 2008. Personal ownership does not seem to be an issue, rather buying (importing) bitcoins from outside the country is illegal because it constitutes a movement of capital out of the country. Furthermore, selling products or services for cryptocurrencies is also prohibited.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legality_of_bitcoin_by_country#Iceland

Iceland

The Icelandic Central Bank confirmed that "it is prohibited to engage in foreign exchange trading with the electronic currency bitcoin, according to the Icelandic Foreign Exchange Act".[64]

My sincere condolence to all the russian Icelandic bitcoin users.

[Capitascism]

I have taught BTC e exchange is based in Russia?
And i had beliefs that Russians are not under communism anymore, how come somebody can forbid something if folks wont to use it? (If it is not drug or similar).
This is technology piece of computer code, how this can be bad or forbidden, i'm confused completely.

[thejaytiesto]

They know that once shit hits the fan people will start looking for alternatives, and Russia is one of the countries that hates alternatives to the state the most, so of course they will be adverse against bitcoin, and wait for Putin to start passing laws against citizens storing gold, then all the bitcoin doubters will learn that every smart person must own some bitcoins the harsh way.

[BitconAssociation]

I have taught BTC e exchange is based in Russia?
And i had beliefs that Russians are not under communism anymore, how come somebody can forbid something if folks wont to use it? (If it is not drug or similar).
This is technology piece of computer code, how this can be bad or forbidden, i'm confused completely.

1. Bitcoin is not banned in Russia yet. In Iceland yes, in Russia no.
2. There are no major Bitcoin exchanges in Russia that I know of.
3. There are many things governments forbid, from walking around naked to automatic weapons to printing your own money. Communism has nothing to do with it.

[bittrojan]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-28/russian-law-would-send-bitcoin-users-to-jail-as-cybercriminals

Russia is planning to punish users of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, saying anonymous, difficult to trace transactions help kidnappers and money launderers.

The Finance Ministry in Moscow plans to submit legislation next month that would punish those who use digital currencies with fines as high as 2.5 million rubles ($38,000) and jail sentences of up to seven years. As opponents criticize such regulations as futile in the face of the growing popularity of bitcoin, Russia joins countries including Bolivia, Iceland and Vietnam in taking steps to criminalize it.

“Bitcoin can be used to finance the shadow economy and crimes, and this risk we cannot allow in the Russia’s financial system, which we are striving to make transparent and healthy,” the press service of the central bank said in an e-mail.

should i believe this?i mean if this is really happen in russia,would people from russia in this forum gone?or exchange from russia also closed?
in other side i'm happy because some people mentioned russian is scammers,but i'm not sure with that.

[cjmoles]

Hmmm.  I wonder what kind of impact that might have in the online poker scene if it passed?  I mean, would that law be honored by its public....or would it be ignored?  I'm thinking that there's going to be boon in the online poker industry once the transition to bitcoin in that industry is complete....but preventing our neighbors in Russia from playing with bitcoin might slow down that process some because Russians comprise a large part of the player field.

[Wendigo]

I don't think this 'ban' on Bitcoin will stop the Russians from accessing and playing on online sports-betting and casino sites using Bitcoin. The majority of these websites require no personal identification being Bitcoin-based so a good VPN service is enough to get you playing. Now I don't know how people will proceed with cashing out and exchanging the coins back to local currency but I guess they will go to a neighboring country and exchange the coins back to euros or dollars there in safety perhaps.

[naidray]

Buh Bye Yobit. You have until may 24 to remove all your coins from the exchange or kiss them goodbye forever. 

I see that they have RU as option for language, but i didnt know that they were based in Russia - where did you find this info ?
Another exchange that could be affected by this is btc-e , but its not really known about location of that exchange either.
If i'm not mistaken, they could just move their servers to another country, therefore avoiding any legal issues. Their law isn't valid outside of land borders.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I've read replies in some threads of users stating that YoBit is based in Russia and one of the issues that occurred when the law about Russia banning bitcoins is that the possibility of YoBit shutting down. But I don't see any warnings or any announcements from YoBit that they're shutting down as I'm sure that they can just transfer servers/host to a different country although the permissions and legal papers and stuff.. I don't how those work.

[Boosterious]

I have taught BTC e exchange is based in Russia?
And i had beliefs that Russians are not under communism anymore, how come somebody can forbid something if folks wont to use it? (If it is not drug or similar).
This is technology piece of computer code, how this can be bad or forbidden, i'm confused completely.

1. Bitcoin is not banned in Russia yet. In Iceland yes, in Russia no.
2. There are no major Bitcoin exchanges in Russia that I know of.
3. There are many things governments forbid, from walking around naked to automatic weapons to printing your own money. Communism has nothing to do with it.

are you russian?its why i never se people from icland,but why they ban bitcoin?
i wont think people in russia care about this news,might they just care about bitcoin movement,its too late for goverment to make any rules related bitcoin,russia have big amount of civilian that use bitcoin.

[BitconAssociation]

If i'm not mistaken, they could just move their servers to another country, therefore avoiding any legal issues. Their law isn't valid outside of land borders.

I'm sure that they can just transfer servers/host to a different country although the permissions and legal papers and stuff.. I don't how those work.

That's not how things work. Even if you move your servers to the moon (which, AFAIK, doesn't have any gun/drug/CP laws), you still wouldn't be able to (legally) sell guns/drugs/CP. You have to obey the laws of your home country, and, occasionally,laws of countries which can access your website. That's why Stamp banned Russian IPs/Russian users (old news, not sure if still banned), for instance.

why i never se people from icland,but why they ban bitcoin?

Because they don't like it & don't want it there. Contrary to popular belief, printing your own money is not a natural human right. No more than the right to run a ponzi or shit on sidewalks.

i wont think people in russia care about this news

Some wouldn't, some would.
The ones who don't mind digging rotten potato from frozen tundra while being repeatedly secsed up the butt by burly zeks, for 7 years , wouldn't care, the rest would.

[DimensionZ]

I think even if YoBit move their servers to another country that still makes their service illegitimate in Russia because within the borders of the country the Russian jurisdiction doesn't permit the operation of any Bitcoin exchange. So unless the local citizens use a VPN service or other methods to circumvent this obstacle their IPs will probably be blocked by the government.

[ricardobs]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-28/russian-law-would-send-bitcoin-users-to-jail-as-cybercriminals

Russia is planning to punish users of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, saying anonymous, difficult to trace transactions help kidnappers and money launderers.

The Finance Ministry in Moscow plans to submit legislation next month that would punish those who use digital currencies with fines as high as 2.5 million rubles ($38,000) and jail sentences of up to seven years. As opponents criticize such regulations as futile in the face of the growing popularity of bitcoin, Russia joins countries including Bolivia, Iceland and Vietnam in taking steps to criminalize it.

“Bitcoin can be used to finance the shadow economy and crimes, and this risk we cannot allow in the Russia’s financial system, which we are striving to make transparent and healthy,” the press service of the central bank said in an e-mail.

But the usage of bitcoin is anonymous , how will their government know that their particular citizen is adopting bitcoin and doing transactions and other payments with it? I don’t thisk that they will send to jail any of them.

[BitconAssociation]

But the usage of bitcoin is anonymous , how will their government know that their particular citizen is adopting bitcoin and doing transactions and other payments with it? I don’t thisk that they will send to jail any of them.

The same way that people distributing child porn get owned. Only with BTC, it's much simpler.

1. If you are a brick & mortar store accepting bitcoin, you have to advertise the fact ("we accept BTC")
2. If you are a website, ditto.
3. What else uses port 8333 Comically simple
4. Bitcoiners always talk about using bitcoin, they never stop because they simply can't. A bitcoiner will still be giving his "to the moon" pitch to the jackboots while getting V&

[Hazir]

1. Bitcoin is not banned in Russia yet. In Iceland yes, in Russia no.
2. There are no major Bitcoin exchanges in Russia that I know of.
3. There are many things governments forbid, from walking around naked to automatic weapons to printing your own money. Communism has nothing to do with it.

1.Bitcoin was banned in the past in Russia, it is second attempt of Russian government to ban it.
2. There is BTC-e which if I am not mistaked Russian operated exchange - but recently I heard that they moved to Bulgaria because Russian environment is too unstable for cryptocurrencies.
3. Some things that are banned are plainly stupid and laws varies from place to place. There is nothing people can do about it.

[BitconAssociation]

1. Bitcoin is not banned in Russia yet. In Iceland yes, in Russia no.
2. There are no major Bitcoin exchanges in Russia that I know of.
3. There are many things governments forbid, from walking around naked to automatic weapons to printing your own money. Communism has nothing to do with it.

1.Bitcoin was banned in the past in Russia, it is second attempt of Russian government to ban it.

No, Bitcoin was never banned in Russia, you're mistaken. Officials publicly opined on legality of bitcoin, but no law was passed (and, as you seem to be implying, consequently revoked).

2. There is BTC-e which if I am not mistaked Russian operated exchange - but recently I heard that they moved to Bulgaria because Russian environment is too unstable for cryptocurrencies.

BTC-e is not a Russian exchange. It's not an anywhere exchange, no one knows the identities of the operators. Clearly the people who started it were Russian speakers (or wanted to introduce another layer of opacity), but this doesn't make it a Russian exchange.

3. Some things that are banned are plainly stupid and laws varies from place to place. There is nothing people can do about it.

Can't disagree with that, though don't have enough info on this particular instance to comment.

[alyssa85]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-04-28/russian-law-would-send-bitcoin-users-to-jail-as-cybercriminals

Russia is planning to punish users of cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin, saying anonymous, difficult to trace transactions help kidnappers and money launderers.

The Finance Ministry in Moscow plans to submit legislation next month that would punish those who use digital currencies with fines as high as 2.5 million rubles ($38,000) and jail sentences of up to seven years. As opponents criticize such regulations as futile in the face of the growing popularity of bitcoin, Russia joins countries including Bolivia, Iceland and Vietnam in taking steps to criminalize it.

“Bitcoin can be used to finance the shadow economy and crimes, and this risk we cannot allow in the Russia’s financial system, which we are striving to make transparent and healthy,” the press service of the central bank said in an e-mail.

should i believe this?i mean if this is really happen in russia,would people from russia in this forum gone?or exchange from russia also closed?
in other side i'm happy because some people mentioned russian is scammers,but i'm not sure with that.

I guess we'll find out this month whether the legislation actually goes through the Russian parliament. Bloomberg is pretty reliable - they would have fact checked before they ran the story.

[wuvdoll]

The sad thing is that this will only stop the normal users from using bitcoin. The criminals who were using it before won't stop using it because the government says so.

Yeah doing that will not stop criminals to use it as they will be expert in adopting bitcoin anonymously, and will use bitcoin whenever they need and they will not know the government about any of their action, as bitcoin is anonymous.

[ahpku]

Yeah doing that will not stop criminals to use it as they will be expert in adopting bitcoin anonymously, and will use bitcoin whenever they need and they will not know the government about any of their action, as bitcoin is anonymous.

If it stops just one criminal, it'll all be worth it