Suddenly, Russia Plans To Ban Cryptocurrency Sales To ‘Ordinary People’

[Celsiuss]

“For ordinary people, there’s no way because these are very dangerous investments that could lead to loss of money.”

Ok, what does this have to do with anything? Only for elite traders? WHY? I mean it's not like ordinary people can lose all their money on other stuff, we still have the normal stock market. This really sounds like bullshit. A dumb choice.

[Yoandy10]

Not surprising at all. If there is one thing that billionaires love is to find ways to keep the involuntary down - that’s how their product continues to increase in value. Let me ask you something: if the world has 25 people each worth over 500 billion dollars, then why does poverty still exist. I mean, that’s enough money to donate one million to each family in the world, with enough money left over to still maintain their billionaire status? Well, because there would be less demand for their product when everyone is a millionaire. That how rich people look at it. So, Russians are trying to maintain a class-based society by doing this. Absolutely disputable!!!

[helga22richter]

Ridiculous idea!
This soundsa bit like they wanna make crypto investing an elite thing.
I highly doubt this is going to work out.
The black market and local trading in dark side streets will thrive!

It seems to me that the government of this country does everything for the prosperity of the black market.

[helga22richter]

“For ordinary people, there’s no way because these are very dangerous investments that could lead to loss of money.”

Ok, what does this have to do with anything? Only for elite traders? WHY? I mean it's not like ordinary people can lose all their money on other stuff, we still have the normal stock market. This really sounds like bullshit. A dumb choice.

I think that it breaks the basic rights of people and divides society into castes.

[Emily_Green]

In fact, I'm not surprised. The Russian government has its own views on everything. However, I believe that each of us should have a choice. So, using Bitcoin or not  should be our choice.

[Wind_FURY]

Ridiculous idea!
This soundsa bit like they wanna make crypto investing an elite thing.
I highly doubt this is going to work out.
The black market and local trading in dark side streets will thrive!

This is why Russian chicks love getting fucked in the ass.  They are used to it.  Putin has been fucking the people in the ass for years.  

This is nothing other than a silly explanation for a law they will try to use to limit capital flight.  Russia is highly exposed to capital flight and its effects.  They will do whatever it takes to keep capital and hard currency inside of Russia.  Buying bitcoin involves hard currency leaving Russia.  Of course that is going to be illegal.  Get the lard!

Should it not be the other way around? The Russian government can try but how will they implement it? But let us see who really gets "fucked in the ass". They cannot go house to house and confiscate all their citizens' computers just to see if they are using Bitcoin.

[pioner331]

No need to panic. The government is preparing a law now. Not every 'no ordinary person' thinks that way. Many people in government actually do not understand how cryptos work. But allow themselves to give interviews on subject! They are used to regulate or ban everything.

[Scorpion]

This reminds me of when China thought they could manipulate the price of Bitcoin with FUD. It ain't working - the price of Bitcoin continues to rise!

[aleksej996]

Not surprising at all. If there is one thing that billionaires love is to find ways to keep the involuntary down - that’s how their product continues to increase in value. Let me ask you something: if the world has 25 people each worth over 500 billion dollars, then why does poverty still exist. I mean, that’s enough money to donate one million to each family in the world, with enough money left over to still maintain their billionaire status? Well, because there would be less demand for their product when everyone is a millionaire. That how rich people look at it. So, Russians are trying to maintain a class-based society by doing this. Absolutely disputable!!!

Bill Gates is currently the richest man in the world and his net worth was 90 billion as of July this year. So there really isn't even 1/5th of a person with 500 billion dollars
As I understand, Bill Gates will give vast majority of his wealth to charity and so will his friend Warren Buffet (I believe he said he will give 99%), the second wealthiest man in the world. So this clearly doesn't apply to everyone. It is kind of useless to just sit on that money, so they give it away to people in need.
I believe that most of the richest people would want poverty gone. Not just out of the good hearth, but also because their products aren't really something that people in poverty buy. How many of billionaires you know that got rich of selling cheap food?
I really don't think that many people benefit from poor people in Africa, dieing of thirst, hunger and easily preventable diseases.

[gredisgold88]

too fast, bitcoin ban in russia ,  after Russian government permit the use of bitcoin & cryptocurrency. but the Russian government also has a strong argument for bitcoin tires.

[fossilized]

I wonder whether we can get any local Russians to comment on the actual situation. Alot of FUD going on. Just like when there was news about China banning? When in reality it didn't amount to much.

[Lancusters]

I wonder whether we can get any local Russians to comment on the actual situation. Alot of FUD going on. Just like when there was news about China banning? When in reality it didn't amount to much.

It's just a rumor. Bitcoin has not been approved for use in Russia so it is impossible to deny. The most popular service in Russia WebMoney is working without changes. Moreover, this week he added the possibility of using bitcoin in cash.

[gentlemand]

I longer believe anything when it comes to Bitcoin and Russia. One week every single user is going to jail, the next Vitalik Buterin is displaying his pecs with Putin.

It's about time they came out with an actual coherent policy that they then apply because I haven't seen one yet.

If they do try to go down the accredited investor route, real people will find their own ways to trade.

[subSTRATA]

Powerful people alreadyhave ways trading anonymously, as we saw in Panama papers. Bitcoin is what wants to give that power to the people as well.
It is no surprise that government officials want to keep this power exclusive for themselves.

I think it's less about keeping it for themselves rather than keeping it away from the masses (just a tiny distinction, but an important one to make). Russia's government is an authoritarian one, and anything that might be construed to loosen the government's control is seen as a threat, especially economical powers such as bitcoin. this could also just be a political move to give their judicial system leverage; they can now prosecute anyone for any underlying reason if they can be reasonably be shown to be affiliated with bitcoin.

[Miyuki024]

Seriously?!?! This is really insane. Bitcoin is the easiest way to do trading and is accessible to all. Limiting bitcoin to rich people will not make a good impression to their people.

[MistyTwitch]

I see it merely as a minor distraction, after all, no government can stop the cryptocurrency movement nor can they completely prevent "ordinary people" from obtaining them. They can set obstacles and slow down the adoption but they cannot stop the movement. Still a shame to see these kinds of news that confuse the "ordinary people", who are the ones most in need of cryptocurrencies.

[Mozdalifa17]

Russia has big dark side history with bitcoin and alts coin even puttin met two Russian developers of wave\ETH . do you know why ? because no one controls revolution of blockchain .

[Dhaaaw]

The real question is, as one of the 'Ordinary People' if i decide to travel or maybe settle in Russia will I be persecuted or will they take my assets.
I hope that this is one of the so called "Fake news" else i would feel really bad for my fellow Russian friends.

[HashFace]

Honestly, not that different than America, where we have "accredited investor" laws that prevent people with networth of less than $2 million (excluding your home) from participating in a lot of investment opportunities.  What Russia is doing is a little more controlling, but the idea of elitism disguised as "protecting you from yourself" isn't unique to them.

[buwaytress]

Honestly, not that different than America, where we have "accredited investor" laws that prevent people with networth of less than $2 million (excluding your home) from participating in a lot of investment opportunities.  What Russia is doing is a little more controlling, but the idea of elitism disguised "protecting you from yourself" isn't unique to them.

Good that you recognise that. It's not dissimilar to what they have in Malaysia, and given that it's just copying western banking, I'm not surprised if a lot of countries already have that in place. Amusing to see how regulators and the state can fail to see that their efforts to protect the elite few will always end up counter-productive to what they're trying to do. At least private equity firms are beginning to loosen up over exclusivity and public participation when it comes to their crypto involvement, although that's probably just linked to income diversification more than anything else.