[2016-09-13] Russian Authorities Ban LocalBitcoins, Contradicting Previous State

[foserfox]

LocalBitcoins.com has been banned by the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of IT and Mass Communications, otherwise known as Roskomnadzor. After the ban went into effect, LocalBitcoins released a blog post explaining how to use the service through a VPN or the Tor browser.

Authorities have sent conflicting messages over the past few years concerning Bitcoin and its related operations. For instance, the Finance Ministry in Moscow has proposed legislation to criminalize its use.

Then, the Russian Head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, stated that Bitcoin should be banned.

Lastly, in contrast to other lawmakers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev told the media that bitcoin trading would be allowed, treated just like forex markets.

Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor has blocked Bitcoin websites such as BTCe, BitNovosti.com, and other sites over the course of the past two years. The federal executive body responsible for overseeing the media uses censorship tactics similar to “China’s Great Firewall.”

https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-blacklist-localbitcoins/

[virtualx]

LocalBitcoins.com has been banned by the Russian Federal Service for Supervision of IT and Mass Communications, otherwise known as Roskomnadzor. After the ban went into effect, LocalBitcoins released a blog post explaining how to use the service through a VPN or the Tor browser.

Authorities have sent conflicting messages over the past few years concerning Bitcoin and its related operations. For instance, the Finance Ministry in Moscow has proposed legislation to criminalize its use.

Then, the Russian Head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, stated that Bitcoin should be banned.

Lastly, in contrast to other lawmakers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev told the media that bitcoin trading would be allowed, treated just like forex markets.

Meanwhile, Roskomnadzor has blocked Bitcoin websites such as BTCe, BitNovosti.com, and other sites over the course of the past two years. The federal executive body responsible for overseeing the media uses censorship tactics similar to “China’s Great Firewall.”

https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-blacklist-localbitcoins/

They are worried about their economy, that is part of the reason for the conflicting messages. It's only a dns ban, as you can still visit the website using VPN, TOR or Proxy so I don't think it's a problem for anyone with the technological knowledge of using bitcoin.

[InvoKing]

They are worried about their economy, that is part of the reason for the conflicting messages. It's only a dns ban, as you can still visit the website using VPN, TOR or Proxy so I don't think it's a problem for anyone with the technological knowledge of using bitcoin.

well it isn't a problem for the tor/vpn users but this weird act will have an impact in the adoption of bitcoin in Russia and will slower it further... and till now there isn't a clear view about bitcoin in this country 

[Winner]

What is the point of this?

Subliminal promotion technique? Ban Bitcoin then legalize Bitcoin, lets repeat this around 5+ times...





hmmm secret government pump n dump group manipulating the market perhaps? There really isn't any point to this if you look at it.

[Gohs]

I think the Russian government is divided into factions. One faction wants bitcoins while the other faction, which is much bigger, does not want bitcoins, creating the round-the-circle effect.

[richardsNY]

I think the Russian government is divided into factions. One faction wants bitcoins while the other faction, which is much bigger, does not want bitcoins, creating the round-the-circle effect.

It's basically like you say, but at the end the higher word will always vote against Bitcoin. And I'm not talking about people from the political level. These people are just puppets.

[pitham1]

A lot of people who want to stay on the right side of the law won't use VPN to connect.
This will slowdown bitcoin adoption in Russia.