Russia Set to Legalize Bitcoin by 2018, Track Every Transaction

[OmegaStarScream]

Only a year ago Russia’s Finance Ministry was threatening jail time to anyone using digital currencies.

In a major U-turn, it’s now edging closer to their acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new line of attack on money laundering.

The authorities hope to recognize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018 as they seek to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position together with the government on digital currencies, according to its press service.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/russia-caves-in-on-bitcoin-to-open-new-front-on-money-laundering
I'm not sure If I should be happy or sad since they are planning to Legalize bitcoin but in the same time, tracking transactions. I'm not entirely sure on how they plan to do it though and how It could be possible unless they are planning to run their own exchanges. I believe that Russians will need TumbleBit whenever this will happen.

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[Dimelord]

Only a year ago Russia’s Finance Ministry was threatening jail time to anyone using digital currencies.

In a major U-turn, it’s now edging closer to their acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new line of attack on money laundering.

The authorities hope to recognize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018 as they seek to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position together with the government on digital currencies, according to its press service.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/russia-caves-in-on-bitcoin-to-open-new-front-on-money-laundering
I'm not sure If I should be happy or sad since they are planning to Legalize bitcoin but in the same time, tracking transactions. I'm not entirely sure on how they plan to do it though and how It could be possible unless they are planning to run their own exchanges. I believe that Russians will need TumbleBit whenever this will happen.

At first,china tried to ban bitcoin.When they realized they cant,they just took a U turn and started regulating bitcoin transactions.Same is the case with russia.Now they have also decided to regulate bitcoins.It would definitely give positive effect on bitcoins world wide since two big countries have indirectly accepted bitcoin as a currency or an asset.But only russian bitcoin holders have to be cautious here after.

[avikz]

I doubt that is ever going to happen in Russia. They are well known for being orthodox and just a year back they were in talks to make bitcoin and any other online currency illegal. So I smell a rat here.

Since they are planning to track every single transaction, I am sure the online currency users will face the heat after sometimes where the government will have enough proofs against someone. They way they taken the recent U-turn, They can again take another u-turn in their stance about the online currencies.

[c789]

Bitcoin is Big Brother's dream come true. All transactions are on a public blockchain. Once they realized this, they loved it.

[Qartada]

Bitcoin is Big Brother's dream come true. All transactions are on a public blockchain. Once they realized this, they loved it.

A pseudonymous blockchain, though.  If you know what you're doing and you put some work into anonymising yourself, it's possible to stop yourself being tracked with Bitcoin (not with absolute certainty, but close).  That's something that people can never achieve with fiat.

They're shooting themselves in the foot if they want to know which people send which transactions.  The transactions they'll find out about will be people doing legal things, and therefore not trying to cover their tracks very well.  People doing anything seriously illegal will cover their tracks pretty well if they're handling Bitcoin transactions, and that'll be a lot of work for the state to try and find out.  I don't think they'll manage it.

[LTU_btc]

It's interesting, how they are planning to track every transaction, because I think it's nearly impossible. For me it looks similar to how they tried to censore internet. They blocked many popular torrent and other illegal content websites but everybody knows how to reach these websites Maybe it's only like a warning that people would be afraid to use bitcoin, especially for bad things.

[CyberKuro]

Only a year ago Russia’s Finance Ministry was threatening jail time to anyone using digital currencies.

In a major U-turn, it’s now edging closer to their acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new line of attack on money laundering.

The authorities hope to recognize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018 as they seek to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position together with the government on digital currencies, according to its press service.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/russia-caves-in-on-bitcoin-to-open-new-front-on-money-laundering
I'm not sure If I should be happy or sad since they are planning to Legalize bitcoin but in the same time, tracking transactions. I'm not entirely sure on how they plan to do it though and how It could be possible unless they are planning to run their own exchanges. I believe that Russians will need TumbleBit whenever this will happen.

Indeed, it's nearly impossible to track evey bitcoin transaction as blockchain has different way with bank system. That's one reason why many users interested on bitcoin. The rules maybe same with other countries to regulate every exchanges due to bitcoin and fiat transaction (buy and sell) take place in there, but they can't track a transaction between two bitcoiners without exchanges and bank service.

[QuestionAuthority]

They want to use Bitcoin to stop illicit money from flowing out of Russia? Isn't that like using a strainer to hold flour? LOL

[aTriz]

Only a year ago Russia’s Finance Ministry was threatening jail time to anyone using digital currencies.

In a major U-turn, it’s now edging closer to their acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new line of attack on money laundering.

The authorities hope to recognize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018 as they seek to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position together with the government on digital currencies, according to its press service.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/russia-caves-in-on-bitcoin-to-open-new-front-on-money-laundering
I'm not sure If I should be happy or sad since they are planning to Legalize bitcoin but in the same time, tracking transactions. I'm not entirely sure on how they plan to do it though and how It could be possible unless they are planning to run their own exchanges. I believe that Russians will need TumbleBit whenever this will happen.

Jesus christ.

I read the first part of the title and I'm like yays for bitcoin! Finally getting recognised all over the world, Japan, Russia, etc.

And then I read the second part... Track every transaction???

I'd rather have them stay away from bitcoin than them regulating and approving bitcoin to be used, honestly. Because the more they try to ban bitcoin, the more people are going to realise bitcoin is the way to go.

But if they want to legalize it, then why should they track every transaction?

Just another reason to immigrate out of Russia, they must be up down there.

They want to use Bitcoin to stop illicit money from flowing out of Russia? Isn't that like using a strainer to hold flour? LOL

Hahahahha you made my day

[Yakamoto]

I can't say I was expecting something like this from Russia, but it seems like it makes a lot more sense if you were paying attention to some of the stories that politicians or high-level members of the Russian government were involved with Bitcoin in some ways.

As for tracking every transaction, that'll be an interesting feat for them to pull if it is anything more advanced than just observing the blockchain and trying to tie transactions and everything together. If they have something new, I'd like to learn about it.

[hello_good_sir]

Only a year ago Russia’s Finance Ministry was threatening jail time to anyone using digital currencies.

In a major U-turn, it’s now edging closer to their acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new line of attack on money laundering.

The authorities hope to recognize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018 as they seek to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position together with the government on digital currencies, according to its press service.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/russia-caves-in-on-bitcoin-to-open-new-front-on-money-laundering
I'm not sure If I should be happy or sad since they are planning to Legalize bitcoin but in the same time, tracking transactions. I'm not entirely sure on how they plan to do it though and how It could be possible unless they are planning to run their own exchanges. I believe that Russians will need TumbleBit whenever this will happen.

Very interesting. I would have expected that another country than Russia would do this first, like China. As we all know China has already got some ridiculous rules on withdrawal and deposits on exchanges, you have to show your proof of funds, where it came from and whether or not it was legally obtained before you can even withdraw any bitcoin or CNY from Huobi, BTCChina, etc.

It would be a challenge for them to track EVERY transaction though.

There would be a lot more transactions to track in 2018 than this year, not to mention that the amount of transactions are already pretty high this year. And to link each transaction to a person's name is just improbable if not impossible to do, especially if people know that they are being tracked and they use coin mixing services such as Bitmixer.io or BitBlender to anonymise their coins to another level.

[regular]

Only a year ago Russia’s Finance Ministry was threatening jail time to anyone using digital currencies.

In a major U-turn, it’s now edging closer to their acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new line of attack on money laundering.

The authorities hope to recognize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018 as they seek to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position together with the government on digital currencies, according to its press service.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/russia-caves-in-on-bitcoin-to-open-new-front-on-money-laundering
I'm not sure If I should be happy or sad since they are planning to Legalize bitcoin but in the same time, tracking transactions. I'm not entirely sure on how they plan to do it though and how It could be possible unless they are planning to run their own exchanges. I believe that Russians will need TumbleBit whenever this will happen.

Lol, I wish governments can stop doing this kind of shit to bitcoin.

Like come on, you realise that bitcoin is actually a legit currency and now you hate it because it'll wreck your entire economy if everyone leaves the fiat debt cycle to join bitcoin. So you monitor every transaction? Oh wait, anyone can monitor every transaction on the blockchain. What matters is whether you are able to link that particular transaction to a purpose, which is so difficult to do even if you're a highly experienced bitcoiner, and will probably cost you a shit ton

Go ahead Russia. I don't give a shit honestly.

[Dorky]

Soon, almost all countries will adopt bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the mark of the beast 666.

Bitcoin serves to totally control everyone and enforce obedience.

Bitcoin will be fully regulated and centralized.

Bitcoin will control everyone's life and dictate to everyone what he/she can and cannot do (including what medicine to take, which political party to vote for, what food to eat, which media channel to watch, what religion to believe, etc etc), otherwise their life will be "locked" out of the network.

If you think this is too far fetched, it is because they are not happening now.

When they starts to become a reality and gaining force, it will be the norm and everyone will embrace it like a frog in a slowly boiling water.

[Theb]

Well it is a bold move on what Russia did maybe they have seen the benefits of having Bitcoin legally in the long term perspective. Right now I know 2 major countries that will try to accept Bitcoin in their country and that is Japan and know Russia. With that in mind and if Bitcoin became successful in their country we would see a lot of countries that will follow on the regulation of Bitcoin in their country. More countries means more demand, more demand means more value for Bitcoin.

[Dorky]

Soon, almost all countries will adopt bitcoin.

Bitcoin is the mark of the beast 666.

Bitcoin serves to totally control everyone and enforce obedience.

Bitcoin will be fully regulated and centralized.

Bitcoin will control everyone's life and dictate to everyone what he/she can and cannot do (including what medicine to take, which political party to vote for, what food to eat, which media channel to watch, what religion to believe, etc etc), otherwise their life will be "locked" out of the network.

If you think this is too far fetched, it is because they are not happening now.

When they starts to become a reality and gaining force, it will be the norm and everyone will embrace it like a frog in a slowly boiling water.

And fast forward into the future, almost everyone will claim they saw it coming anyway.

And they will never know there was a person nicknamed "Dorky" who said it first!

[OROBTC]

...

Qartada, Dorky

At least for the short-term, yes, a careful covering of tracks would make it hard for any government to match transactions to wallet owners.  But, if monitoring starts getting tighter (more effective), there might be a place to hide in some alts which are geared to more privacy.

Still a big and intrusive .gov might be able to do a lot of damage even if it does not control Bitcoin (et al).  The most vulnerable part of the cryptocurrencies are the entrance and exit ramps (the money you use to buy BTC (credit cards say) or the products you buy with BTC (and hence have shipped to you)).  It is where the crypto world ends and the "real" world begins is the weak point, where .gov could crack down.

[Mometaskers]

Despite lack of technical knowledge I know bitcoin is not exactly anonymous but there are ways to hide your activity if you know what you are doing. (I've read a thread where people were trying to track a hacker's trail.) So if they attempt to track EVERY bitcoin transaction, what they'll find would probably mostly just the legal ones, with maybe a few poorly covered tracks for criminal related transactions here and there.

Casting your net wide doesn't necessarily mean you'll catch more.

I doubt that is ever going to happen in Russia. They are well known for being orthodox and just a year back they were in talks to make bitcoin and any other online currency illegal. So I smell a rat here.

Since they are planning to track every single transaction, I am sure the online currency users will face the heat after sometimes where the government will have enough proofs against someone. They way they taken the recent U-turn, They can again take another u-turn in their stance about the online currencies.

Well that is a possiblity, though a bit unlikely IMHO. Considering how it went for China, maybe Russia will just try to monitor exchanges rather than use the first big bad news about bitcoin to formally ban all cryptocurrencies. Besides, Russia need all the money it can get and formalizing acceptance of bitcoin could lead to more funds getting in. Handy should they ever be slapped with sanctions.

[forexpert]

good news. i predict 2000$ in value till then  

[clickerz]

good news. i predict 2000$ in value till then  

Another country joining the  legal used of bitcoin in financial transaction. Though there is some kind of disagreement on the phrase "track every transaction" but I think this is another milestone in bitcoin economy. I hope this issue will be ironed out soon.

[Juggy777]

Only a year ago Russia’s Finance Ministry was threatening jail time to anyone using digital currencies.

In a major U-turn, it’s now edging closer to their acceptance as a legitimate financial instrument to open a new line of attack on money laundering.

The authorities hope to recognize bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in 2018 as they seek to enforce rules against illegal transfers, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said in an interview. The central bank is developing a joint position together with the government on digital currencies, according to its press service.

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-10/russia-caves-in-on-bitcoin-to-open-new-front-on-money-laundering
I'm not sure If I should be happy or sad since they are planning to Legalize bitcoin but in the same time, tracking transactions. I'm not entirely sure on how they plan to do it though and how It could be possible unless they are planning to run their own exchanges. I believe that Russians will need TumbleBit whenever this will happen.

I truly agree with op words whether we all should be happy that Russia is finally accepting Bitcoins, but then at what cost you are killing the freedom and that I feel is very bad. No more tax savings, no more annoyous and worst of all Decentralisation gone. One theory of mine suggests is that Russia economy is going down, by putting a tax on Bitcoins they shall be able to get a whole new revenue and shall save their own money. I do hope this does not becomes a reality, cause then USA and all major countries shall follow suit.