What's your thoughts on the recent Localbitcoins.com ban of its Iran-based users

[Romeoetin]

I stumbled across this post. https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce

What's your thought on this ban? Is it fair on all its Iranians users.. I mean there have to be honest traders there.

[mk4]

Quite weird that LocalBitcoins is only the one that's banned and not bitcoin itself. Hence I'm also leaning to the US-Iran controversy like said on the article. Though I'm not sure why only LocalBitcoins is banned, but I guess LocalBitcoins is just one of those few exchanges that allows trading on Iranian residents.

Look at the bright side. At least it's not bitcoin that's banned I guess?

Is it fair on all its Iranians users.. I mean there have to be honest traders there.

I don't think government officials care much if it's "fair" to everyone or not.

[bagalkot]

They banned in due to risk factor of funds moving illegally for illegal purpose, so to stop it they have issued this notice.

[dothebeats]

With the limited number of actual avenues in Iran to which a bitcoin user can trade his bitcoins for cash, I can say that the ban of LocalBitcoins is somewhat already a hard blow. Well from the looks of it, it seems like this is just another one of the crazy tricks the US can look pull off to pin Iran on the wall pretty hard. Perhaps it is time for the Iranians to create their own exchange and figure out things from there.

They banned in due to risk factor of funds moving illegally for illegal purpose, so to stop it they have issued this notice.

Pretty sure it's more than that.

[Bitum]

Iran is not the best kocation for crypto. Erlich said, I do not like it when state meddles in this matter. I'm against it. You should deal with fiat. Crypto should stay out of state control

[tippytoes]

With the limited number of actual avenues in Iran to which a bitcoin user can trade his bitcoins for cash, I can say that the ban of LocalBitcoins is somewhat already a hard blow. Well from the looks of it, it seems like this is just another one of the crazy tricks the US can look pull off to pin Iran on the wall pretty hard. Perhaps it is time for the Iranians to create their own exchange and figure out things from there.

They banned in due to risk factor of funds moving illegally for illegal purpose, so to stop it they have issued this notice.

Pretty sure it's more than that.

Are there no other options for Iranians other than LocalBitcoins? I guess there will be at least one local crypto exchange operating within that country. And this is a good opportunity for them to launch their own local crypto exchange, in case they don't have one yet. They are not banning bitcoin only the service of LocalBitcoins. So I guess, it is still good to go for crypto users in that country.

[kingpin4321]

It might be just more than dishonest traders getting involved be the reason to why localbitcoin ban it's iran based users.  The country is one who upholds so Islamic law in which there are little dispute as to whether it's in line with there faith. I can say either there is slow turn out there in that base or there is a governmental ban

[Genemind]

Most countries only see the negative effect of crypto trading so they're banning and prohibiting the use of some exchanges and platforms.
Iranians must know how to access and use other exchanges except for Localbitcoins. They could also use a p2p platform for trade and purchase coins.

[Ailmand]

Why do they have to do it? I mean, why did they ban Localbitcoins alone when there are actually lots of exchanges being used in the said country? However, we can't blame them because Iran is known to have a huge percentage of terrorism so I guess they're just trying to control the access of crypto to stop criminals of using it in their own purposes.

[kotajikikox]

I stumbled across this post. https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce

What's your thought on this ban? Is it fair on all its Iranians users.. I mean there have to be honest traders there.

I think the goverment of iran have a plan this banned decesion for localbitcoin or its either they have a plan to regulate it to collect taxes fron local users. I think the reason why bitcoin itself not affected for the localbitcoin banning it because its diffucult to regulate it cintrol knowing bitcoin is use internationally.

[Romeoetin]

Quite weird that LocalBitcoins is only the one that's banned and not bitcoin itself. Hence I'm also leaning to the US-Iran controversy like said on the article. Though I'm not sure why only LocalBitcoins is banned, but I guess LocalBitcoins is just one of those few exchanges that allows trading on Iranian residents.

Look at the bright side. At least it's not bitcoin that's banned I guess?

Is it fair on all its Iranians users.. I mean there have to be honest traders there.

I don't think government officials care much if it's "fair" to everyone or not.

but don't you think this will have a huge impact on the bitcoin trading community in Iran owning to the fact that Localbitcoins.com is one of its top exchanges there.

[Romeoetin]

They banned in due to risk factor of funds moving illegally for illegal purpose, so to stop it they have issued this notice.

This is my thoughts exactly but terrorists in Iran have been moving out funds illegally for ages and if it was to be a ban because of its illegally use to move out funds, shouldn't the ban be from the Iranian government directly?

[uray]

I stumbled across this post. https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce

What's your thought on this ban? Is it fair on all its Iranians users.. I mean there have to be honest traders there.

It is a really weird situation to ban users because of their Geo location and i doubt whether it is imposed by sanctions imposed on Iran by other countries and if this is another restriction i wont be surprised but the sad thing is that bitcoin is meant to remove all these restrictions and yet these central service providers are restricting these users because of their location is really pathetic. I am not sure whether they have other options to trade bitcoin but they can relay on P2P based systems or they can built one for the traders.

[odolvlobo]

I stopped selling bitcoins on LocalBitcoins a long time ago because I didn't want to become a martyr.

[pushups44]

I stumbled across this post. https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce

What's your thought on this ban? Is it fair on all its Iranians users.. I mean there have to be honest traders there.

Why is this a surprise? The U.S. government has infiltrated the platform and jailed those selling bitcoin on it, accusing them of violating money transmitter and money laundering laws. While I appreciate the intent of those who created the platform, by now it is thoroughly compromised.

To avoid this, I suggest users buy and sell bitcoin on exchanges that are legally compliant.

[joniboini]

Most countries only see the negative effect of crypto trading so they're banning and prohibiting the use of some exchanges and platforms.

You got it backward this time. Iran is not banning Bitcoin, LBC just decided to close the doors.

but don't you think this will have a huge impact on the bitcoin trading community in Iran owning to the fact that Localbitcoins.com is one of its top exchanges there.

This is my thoughts exactly but terrorists in Iran have been moving out funds illegally for ages and if it was to be a ban because of its illegally use to move out funds, shouldn't the ban be from the Iranian government directly?

Stop double posting dude.
I believe Iranian users can take care of themselves. They can use other exchange or trade it here. It's not like this is the first time they face a difficult situation, and unless you certainly know how to help them, it's better to stop speculating.

[rosezionjohn]

Are there no other options for Iranians other than LocalBitcoins? I guess there will be at least one local crypto exchange operating within that country.

If you actually read the article, you'll find the alternatives there. One is Bisq decentralized exchange since they've recently integrated Farsi for Iranian users and the other is Hodlhodl which offers similar services to Localbitcoins.

[pooya87]

that is why centralization could never work in bitcoin (decentralized) world. things look P2P on localbitcoins but they are centralized which is why "bans" like this can happen. unfortunately that has been a problem in bitcoin ecosystem for ages and although mitigation exists with decentralized exchanges, they are not that popular.

i didn't know Localbitcoins had such a high volume though! alternatives exist and there are cases which offer much better rates, i personally never find Localbitcoins rates any good which is why i have never used it before. i prefer true P2P trades when it comes to exchanging bitcoin with fiat.

[uneng]

They are following Finland financial regulations, as it's the country where the headquarters of Localbitcoins is based. But Usa sanctions also play a big role on this story. I think they fear shady activities in Iran, maybe related to terrorism.
There is no way to know what the intelligence service of Usa knows about the relation between iranians and crypto currencies, but or course they know much more than any internet speculations.

[Caladonian]

I stumbled across this post. https://www.coindesk.com/localbitcoins-bans-bitcoin-buying-in-iran-in-blow-to-rising-crypto-commerce

What's your thought on this ban? Is it fair on all its Iranians users.. I mean there have to be honest traders there.

The business decided to pull out and nothing can be done with that, pressures are surely the thing that encourage this company to shut down their supports/services from this country, known issues might be the case and businessman don't want to be trapped behind and compromised
its name.

Anyway, there's still some channels/venues that they can continue the trade, it's only LocalBitcoins, crypto trades always knows how to find ways.