Belarus wants to ban bitcoin P2P transactions

[Zlantann]

There is nothing that can stop P2P trading. It can only be reduced.

They cannot stop P2P but they can limit crypto institutions or individuals (centralized) that offer exchange services to customers. One of the reasons for this is that they have many unregistered individuals or crypto firms that act as middlemen between buyers and sellers. It looks like people are avoided registered exchanges because they can be used to trace or track their transactions. In an authoritarian country, anybody can be a target of the government. It could also be that the government is targeting to make money from the registration of these exchanges. A country that is facing sanctions will seek alternative ways to get income. They will not be able to stop P2P transactions between two people because even in China Bitcoin transactions still happens.

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[Gallar]

~Snip

Prohibiting P2P exchange activities in my opinion will be very difficult, because all of these things are cyber-based, and as far as I know banning cyber-based things will definitely be very difficult. Especially if this is a ban on P2P exchanges. I'm sure that everyone who is used to doing these transactions, will do various ways to be able to continue to do so. So actually the measures taken by the Belarusian government, regarding banning P2P exchanges, I believe will definitely not be effective. Because it will definitely be difficult to regulate or monitor every citizen who makes such P2P exchanges.

And the reasons used by the Belarusian government about banning P2P exchanges, I think are very common in the crypto world. That is about the number of crimes that occurred. In my opinion, there will always be criminal acts in any field, because in every field there will always be good people and bad people, and in the crypto world or regarding P2P exchanges it will be the same. Therefore, you must always be careful because by always being careful, I'm sure you will avoid anyone who wants to commit fraud.

So I think the right step taken by the Belarusian government is not to ban P2P exchanges, but to instill the thought of always being careful with its people who always trade on P2P. By doing it like that I'm sure it will feel wiser.

[benalexis12]

Banning p2p transaction is new to me, is that possible? isn't this p2p with the features of other centralized exchanges to enter money from outside the exchange and transfer money from the exchange to fiat.
But the p2p using decentralized, I'm just not sure if anyone is already using it because I haven't been updated on that, maybe it's possible, but not in terms of ban p2p. If that goes through, poor crypto enthusiasts who will be affected by that.

[Poker Player]

Let me point this out NotATether:

Bitcoin P2P transactions cannot be stopped banned.

A law can be made to prohibit them, and although this is a small country, I would not like other states to copy the idea, because even though P2P transactions cannot be stopped, they can be reduced to marginality. We are in a global trend of reducing the use of cash, mostly voluntarily by the population and the upcoming launch of CBDCs that mean a step further in the total control.

The legislation underway in the European Union is going in the same direction, and this type of legislation is not going helpful for us.

Of course, bitcoin transactions can't be banned,

Again, they can.

Banning p2p transaction is new to me, is that possible?

Of course.

[Agbe]

According to where I read it, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus said thee is high crypto crime rate in P2P crypto transactions while exchange bitcoin with each other. 

https://cointelegraph.com/news/belarus-wants-to-ban-p2p-cryptocurrency-transactions

The authority cited a high cybercrime rate in Belarus, stating that local prosecutors have suppressed the activity of 27 citizens providing “illegal crypto exchange services” since January 2023. Their total illegal revenues amounted to nearly 22 million Belarusian rubles ($8.7 million).

So if Belarusian wants to sell bitcoin which is an asset to themselves, they have to go through a centralized exchange approved by Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP).

Is this not too hash?

There is nothing that can stop P2P trading. It can only be reduced.

How did the Belarusian Government knows that individuals are doing p2p? Because I thought the p2p is invisible to other people so how come Belarusian government identify the people and suppressed them. Or did they track them through the addresses. I have not really gotten the method they used. Bitcoin is decentralized and that make it not a third party to see what is going on between the two transactors. Please I will need expert explanation on this matter.

[OcTradism]

How did the Belarusian Government knows that individuals are doing p2p? Because I thought the p2p is invisible to other people so how come Belarusian government identify the people and suppressed them. Or did they track them through the addresses. I have not really gotten the method they used. Bitcoin is decentralized and that make it not a third party to see what is going on between the two transactors. Please I will need expert explanation on this matter.

Because not all Peer to Peer trading platforms are truly decentralized. They are centralized and require KYC on users. Some Peer to Peer like Remitano will have fiat currency wallet, link your account to your bank.

Do you think your identity will not be passed to governments if those platforms receive official request from police, bank and government?

When you trade Peer to Peer on such platforms, you will have to make bank transfer with information given by that platform. They will have non sense transfer information like random character. Banks can smell weird signals and trace similar transfer in and out your bank account.

Your trade partner can play bad and leak information against you too.

[Agbe]

~

Wow!! Nice explanation. Thanks. I was thinking of a different dimensions. I was thinking that, the individual p2p transaction is also visible to the government for them to track you down but from your explanation, it is based on exchange platforms which is true of what you said.  What surprised me is your last paragraph, I have not thought to that area and if anyone does that, it is very bad. Revealing your trading colleagues information to the government so they can persecute the person. That is a very wicked ack from the highest order.

[Ucy]

So what stops criminals from using physical fiats or cash considering they are used in p2p manner physically?
 The truth is that most transactions in fiat currencies are criminal ... like transactions for junk foods, synthetic products, low quality schools etc. Why would you allow people to buy things that kill slowly, or even pay for immoral educations?
Anyway, certain things are overlooked because we know they are done in ignorance. However, judging others while you are deep in thesame evil could qualify as hypocrisy. The right thing to do is to fix your own issues first to be clean enough and in your right mind to judge others properly.

Bitcoin isn't for criminals. It's transparent enough for exposing crimes , more transparent than fiats, People need to take advantage of the transparency feature and collaborate to expose those using it for immoral activities.
 I would advice the government to create blacklisting platforms where Belarusians can report crime transactions and get rewarded. Once the crime addresses are identified, they should be blacklisted with proofs of crimes committed attached to the addresses, then publicized for all to know and avoid them. Responsible exchanges and others are expected to avoid the addresses.


Not a good idea to force the free/innocent people to use centralized platforms that normally should be for slaves/criminals.

[qwertyup23]

They can only ban P2P trade where Bitcoin is converted to the local currency or vice versa. Since local fiat is always under the control of the government, it would be easy to track such transactions. Instead of implementing a ban, they should introduce a policy or regulatory framework for these exchanges. A ban would increase illegal activities, which would not be beneficial for them. I have never witnessed a ban helping any government; it has always made their lives more complicated.

This is interesting- so it implies that Belarus has a local exchange where it can easily convert BTC to their local currency? If that is the case, it will definitely be a hassle to remove this kind of convenience, in which my local currency (Philippines) also offers.

If this is the case, there are still exchanges that offer p2p without having to show the transactions. Like most have mentioned, detecting p2p transactions are somehow impossible given the nature of BTC transactions.

Well even if this prohibition is implemented, I doubt that the citizens of Belarus would be affected too much- at most it is only the ease and convenience of conversion BTC - local currency is affected.

[avikz]

By law anything can be banned or legalized. But will that really change the reality? Probably no! Yes, a certain percentage of the population may change their mind to follow the law, but largely P2P transactions cannot be eradicated.

Also Belarus is a communist country like China and Russia. So these countries are usually quite strict when it comes to financial matters. They can have any law, but that won't change the reality.

[Plaguedeath]

This is interesting, imagine the government have ban P2P transactions, it means the Belarusian will not use non custodial wallet to hold their coins. The Belarusian will depends completely on the centralized exchange to hold their coins and if something bad happen toward the exchange, the Belarusian will don't know how to become your own bank and how Bitcoin can be really safe if it's not stored to a digital site.

They might think Bitcoin is centralized due to this law.

[summonerrk]

According to where I read it, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus said thee is high crypto crime rate in P2P crypto transactions while exchange bitcoin with each other. 

https://cointelegraph.com/news/belarus-wants-to-ban-p2p-cryptocurrency-transactions

The authority cited a high cybercrime rate in Belarus, stating that local prosecutors have suppressed the activity of 27 citizens providing “illegal crypto exchange services” since January 2023. Their total illegal revenues amounted to nearly 22 million Belarusian rubles ($8.7 million).

So if Belarusian wants to sell bitcoin which is an asset to themselves, they have to go through a centralized exchange approved by Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP).

Is this not too hash?

There is nothing that can stop P2P trading. It can only be reduced.

There's not so bad about that.
I love Belarusian exchanges, such as free2ex and currency.com (sometimes called "dzengi"). On both exchanges, you need to approach KYC, but it's nothing terrible, both are reliable and time-tested. And through each of them I was withdrawing money by P2P, but through an ordinary exchange withdrawal of fiat on card. It's certainly not that good and takes some time. At the same time, once the exchange rejected my withdrawal, and did not notify me about it. But in all other cases, everything went smoothly.
Therefore, Belarusians have nothing to fear if P2P transactions will be forbidden.

[paid2]

This is interesting, imagine the government have ban P2P transactions, it means the Belarusian will not use non custodial wallet to hold their coins. The Belarusian will depends completely on the centralized exchange to hold their coins and if something bad happen toward the exchange, the Belarusian will don't know how to become your own bank and how Bitcoin can be really safe if it's not stored to a digital site.

They might think Bitcoin is centralized due to this law.

I think that anyone interested in Bitcoin for anything other than pure speculation knows what nonsense it is to consider it as centralized.

It's not really possible to prohibit people from holding BTC in their own wallet, and doing P2P transactions, fortunately. For the others, those who just see it as a speculative product, it probably wouldn't make any difference, because they're probably the ones who keep their BTC in CEX wallets whether required by law or not

People are more or less all aware of the existence of TOR, VPNs, and software associated to Bitcoin (Electrum, for example), so they don't have to depend on CEX if they wish.

[ZAINmalik75]

According to where I read it, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus said thee is high crypto crime rate in P2P crypto transactions while exchange bitcoin with each other. 
quote]

So if Belarusian wants to sell bitcoin which is an asset to themselves, they have to go through a centralized exchange approved by Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP).

Is this not too harsh?

There is nothing that can stop P2P trading. It can only be reduced.

I do not interpret this news as they are banning it, as you mentioned they are asking p2p providers to get verification from their centralized authorities which will decrease the scam rate and will increase the adoption of crypto. No doubt, many will go against this new law because governments will definitely do it to change taxes if they had not implied it before.

And many users must not like that. I think it is a good step instead of taking a step to ban it completely they are benefiting the crypto users and themselves too. Such actions are not made by every country like mine because our country had totally banned crypto while many influencers had given them the idea of imposing tax instead of banning it. Because people will still find a way to do crypto-related activities so why not just make it legal and also benefit from it too. Even now the IMF has also made statements in favor of Crypto and said countries will be left behind which will not use this technology.

[dragonvslinux]

Belarus is more of less a Russian proxy state, one of the only states still loyal to Russia post Soviet Union. So this news of restricting Bitcoin trading is far from surprising, as we've seen Russia flip flop between legalising and criminalising Bitcoin. My point is what Belarus to doing to restrict Bitcoin trading or usage is far from relevant, just like when Russia clamped down on it not so long ago.

[_act_]

I do not interpret this news as they are banning it, as you mentioned they are asking p2p providers to get verification from their centralized authorities which will decrease the scam rate and will increase the adoption of crypto. No doubt, many will go against this new law because governments will definitely do it to change taxes if they had not implied it before.

Which means you do not know what the meaning of P2P is. Peer-to-peer exchanges means to be able to exchange bitcoin without no third party like centralized exchanges involved. If it is P2P, then we are talking about decentralized exchanges like Bisq and exchanging the coins directly with another person, like on this forum. If centralized authorities are involved, like centralized exchanges and the regulators, it is no more P2P. So what you meant is not P2P.

[flyingcarpet]

Yeah the real answer is P2P is unstoppable no matter what the government will do.
Maybe Belarus wants the transaction transparency from the exchange by introducing some of KYC to its user.  the gov want every transaction happen on desired Centralized Exchange so they know everything.

Tho who are pro about P2P always find the way in my opinion.

the plus is at least the government don't ban Bitcoin

In addition to knowing everything, they may also want to collect taxes. Isn't that what most governments wanted to do all along? They also know that P2P cannot be blocked. Let's say there are 100 people and they heard the news. If 90 out of 100 people do what they are told, it means both auditing and tax. The remaining 10 people can transfer as they wish. I think that's the point.

Yes, on the bright side, there is no ban on Bitcoin.

[The Cryptovator]

This decision seems completely unrealistic. I am uncertain whether the authorities in Belarus possess sufficient knowledge about Bitcoin. It is possible that they may only intend to ban platforms that facilitate peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading. However, it is important to note that they cannot entirely prevent peer-to-peer trading, as there are no foolproof measures to prevent it. Even in my own country, Bitcoin is deemed illegal, yet numerous individuals, including myself, engage in peer-to-peer buying and selling of Bitcoin. Ultimately, it remains the decision of individual users.

[Cryptomultiplier]

According to where I read it, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Belarus said thee is high crypto crime rate in P2P crypto transactions while exchange bitcoin with each other. 
quote]

So if Belarusian wants to sell bitcoin which is an asset to themselves, they have to go through a centralized exchange approved by Belarus Hi-Tech Park (HTP).

Is this not too harsh?

There is nothing that can stop P2P trading. It can only be reduced.

I do not interpret this news as they are banning it, as you mentioned they are asking p2p providers to get verification from their centralized authorities which will decrease the scam rate and will increase the adoption of crypto. No doubt, many will go against this new law because governments will definitely do it to change taxes if they had not implied it before.

And many users must not like that. I think it is a good step instead of taking a step to ban it completely they are benefiting the crypto users and themselves too. Such actions are not made by every country like mine because our country had totally banned crypto while many influencers had given them the idea of imposing tax instead of banning it. Because people will still find a way to do crypto-related activities so why not just make it legal and also benefit from it too. Even now the IMF has also made statements in favor of Crypto and said countries will be left behind which will not use this technology.

Of course, countries not partaking of the crypto currency technology is going to be way behind both technically and technologically.
It is quite understandable about the Belarusian situation because seeing they are close to Russia, crime is likely going to sponsored by making payments via crypto, mostly now when the war is around their borders.
By restrictions on the P2P, it will help expose refugees, because with the use of a centralized exchange, the authorities would be able to know those who are not its citizens.
Let's see how this scenario plays out in the long run.

[DudeAtWork420]

I believe all these rantings by the Belarusian government is as a result of the tax they are not benefiting from the p2p transactions. Belarusian citizens are very  smart all these while bypassing their CEX using only p2p to execute their crypto deals which is a good one. The government are just after their own cut of the transaction cake so that nothing passes them hence their move to ban the p2p platform but i am very sure it would be difficult for them to do so because they have to device to detect crypto p2p trades as anyone can transact any amount in accordance to Belarusian country monetary policy. Just as cryptovator has said the  "decision seems completely unrealistic".