Banning Bitcoin is Like Banning the Internet, Says Russia’s Finance Minister

[wiss19]

Practically it is not possible to completely ban the Internet in Russia. There are some attempts to limit the internet access in Russia as there has been a lot of cyberattacks being conducted in Russia. Though all the steps taken by the Russians are temporary in lieu of the current circumstances and there is no plan to disconnect Russia from the outside world.
Russia’s denying that it’s about to cut itself off from the global internet, but it’s acting a lot like it.

The technicality aside, you could "ban" it. You may not be able to stop it, because people could use satellites to get internet from other places, there are global companies that offer horrible bandwidth and speed, but it is there. But that is not about banning, that is about stopping. So if Russia bans it, then they can, and people could either stop, or they could try to find alternatives.

On the other hand, they can't really afford to get out of international internet, because that would put even further economical problems to them on top of the current ones that they have, which is why I doubt it would happen anyway, it would probably not happen.

[syedakhlaque]

Well said by "Russia’s Financial Minister Anton Siluanov that Banning Bitcoin is Like Banning the Internet.
It very good and powerful statement by the minister for the community working for bitcoin. This is a very positive statement based on reality regarding today's world economy and the quickly changing situation. Bitcoin and cryptocurrency are a reality that cannot be ignored. Bitcoin is getting popular in all communities working on the internet. And it is liked by all ages of persons.
So, I appreciate his statement about bitcoin.

[Finestream]

Yes, the finance minister is on right track. Since they are unable to stop using the Internet means can't prevent their citizens from using Bitcoin or cryptocurrency as well. Central Bank always will stand against Bitcoin, nothing new. It's because they don't like to destroy their business. But they aren't realising the reality and potentialities of Bitcoin or they ignoring that for their own benefits. I don't think Russia will ban crypto ever. There are many things related to that.

People can't live without internet nowadays, and so bitcoin is slowly becoming too. The government should have to shut down the internet first before they can totally ban bitcoin. Otherwise, banning becomes ineffective.

In most countries, since they can't ban bitcoin, so they just started to regulate it. I think that is better. If they can't ban bitcoin, at least they can make money from it. IMHO, the government or any central bank can't ban bitcoin, only its citizens can be ban from using it.

[Vaculin]

Couldn't agree more, it is highly ridiculous to think of banning btc, the federal government should stop thinking about banning and and look for better ways to incorporate it into the economy, after several failed attempt it is pointless to keep trying, we are in the digital era where many things are done digitally, technological advancement is taking over and btc is part of that advancement.

There is no way to make bitcoin banning possible. The country may impose a ban on it, but the effect is just temporary. People will always find ways on how they can benefit the technology that bitcoin has. And since bitcoin is part of the newest technology, so people will have all the rights to take advantage on it. However, if banning internet will be possible, bitcoin will also be banned. But it seems that the internet nowadays has been the best outlet for us to gain good knowledge. And that's what actually bitcoin is going to take its path.

[ABCchain]

Cryptocurrencies of the future may be able to achieve a full replacement of money

[Tellek Garing]

Cryptocurrencies of the future may be able to achieve a full replacement of money

What do you mean by that, I believe crypto currency will only provide a better alternative to primary currency but not a replacement. Even though bitcoin can not get banned from any government and as the internet money once there is internet then anybody can access the blockchain without any restrictions.

[titular]

In some ways he is correct. I think the statement is a bit dramatic, but in essence, he is stating that banning bitcoin would be a huge blow to technological advancement. While I do agree with this, I don't think that bitcoin's impact on the world will be quite like the internet.

The internet enables people from across the world to share information in an instant. Bitcoin is a decentralized monetary network that serves to take the middle man out of fiscal exchanges.

Two different things imo.

[Oilacris]

In some ways he is correct. I think the statement is a bit dramatic, but in essence, he is stating that banning bitcoin would be a huge blow to technological advancement. While I do agree with this, I don't think that bitcoin's impact on the world will be quite like the internet.

The internet enables people from across the world to share information in an instant. Bitcoin is a decentralized monetary network that serves to take the middle man out of fiscal exchanges.

Two different things imo.

But its not bad to have some comparison or presuming about similarities between the two.Yes, it might be talking about monetary network but it would be mainly focusing on decentralization which is

something a real or big thing on where people or community would really be praising or like on.Internet is something revolutionary same as Bitcoin too, it is really just having some certain extent
when it comes to actual utility which is really just common sense.If he do say up those words then he do literally just expect too much into btc.

[tbterryboy]

The technicality aside, you could "ban" it. You may not be able to stop it, because people could use satellites to get internet from other places, there are global companies that offer horrible bandwidth and speed, but it is there. But that is not about banning, that is about stopping. So if Russia bans it, then they can, and people could either stop, or they could try to find alternatives.

On the other hand, they can't really afford to get out of international internet, because that would put even further economical problems to them on top of the current ones that they have, which is why I doubt it would happen anyway, it would probably not happen.

Even if you ban it, people would be able to use VPN to overcome that so they know this, they have tried to limit the way Russians use internet before, and they have limit what type of freedoms Russians will get, and they always fail because internet is just way too free to be limited. You could even do bad things online nowadays in the darknet, hopefully nobody ever uses that again but it's there, it's usable and it's not cool at all.

In the end, crypto is a lot like that, they are not saying they will cut themselves out of global internet neither, the fact that they "act" like it is just a way to scare people but in the end they know they can't, and that is why they won't.

[Renampun]

nowadays, stopping Bitcoin is an impossible act...

Bitcoin transactions per hour have reached millions of times and are spread all over the world, even countries that close themselves off from the international world such as North Korea and China alone have quite a lot of bitcoin transactions. Currently, using the Tor network for bitcoin transactions is not difficult, so the sentence "banning bitcoin, like banning the internet" is valid.