Belarus wants to ban bitcoin P2P transactions

[vv181]

Forcing people to transact Bitcoin via a centralised manner will not solve the root causes. If they try to reduce the crime rate, the decision they made is hardly would be significant. If we consider the motive of the criminals, surely they won't attempt to do it. Moreover, they are many things they would be able to handle in order to achieve their goals, which is as the authority stated as cashing out, convert, and transfer the illegitimate funds.

Certainly, due to the nature of bitcoin and those people's motives, the act of cashing out, converting, and transferring is still doable.

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[serjent05]

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.

We cannot deny that trading P2P certainly pose a risk for both party since meeting face to face may trigger a crime if the other party intend to swindle the other party.  In a huge transaction, this might result in a bloodbath.  This is also one reason why I prefer selling my BTC in an online exchange to avoid this kind of incident.  

In terms of the government suggesting the use of centralized exchange and the plan to ban P2p may also have something to do with the taxation.  But whatever the motive behind the government of Belarus wanting to ban P2P can only be seen after the government had successfully passed a law of banning P2P transactions.

[DudeAtWork420]

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.

We cannot deny that trading P2P certainly pose a risk for both party since meeting face to face may trigger a crime if the other party intend to swindle the other party.  In a huge transaction, this might result in a bloodbath.  This is also one reason why I prefer selling my BTC in an online exchange to avoid this kind of incident.  

In terms of the government suggesting the use of centralized exchange and the plan to ban P2p may also have something to do with the taxation.  But whatever the motive behind the government of Belarus wanting to ban P2P can only be seen after the government had successfully passed a law of banning P2P transactions.

Obviously true sir. Most times what the government see and try to prevent is what people do not see. For the aspect of security, this is very risky and moreover, a deadly exposure of one to danger. Going out for a p2p transaction does not guarantee ones safety neither does it guarantees ones assurance of successfully p2p trading success but rather insecurity and possible theft or kidnap. I still believe banning p2p would be very difficult for the government to do because they are not everywhere to monitor what every one in Belarus is doing.  So it is a waste of time doing such.

[Z-tight]

We cannot deny that trading P2P certainly pose a risk for both party since meeting face to face may trigger a crime if the other party intend to swindle the other party.  In a huge transaction, this might result in a bloodbath.  This is also one reason why I prefer selling my BTC in an online exchange to avoid this kind of incident.

In person trade is not the only form of p2p transaction, any transaction that doesn't involve a third party or a middleman is a p2p transaction, if you trade on Bisq or if i send you BTC right now and you send me fiat or any other commodity that i request in exchange, that's a p2p transaction. There is nothing dangerous or risky about it, if you don't like it in the form of in person trade, then use the other forms.

[Slow death]

to be honest, news of this kind coming from a country like Belarus does not surprise me because we all know or at least I suppose we all know that Belarus is a country controlled by Russia and we all know Russia's position in relation to cryptocurrencies, especially in this wartime I have heard news of people who were arrested in Russia for using bitcoin, they are being accused of sending bitcoin to Ukrainians who are fighting, and see that for these people to be arrested is because the Russian government is monitoring all its people

so measures like those of Belarus go against what Russia tells them to do so that Belarus has 100% control of its people, this is the price you pay for living in countries that are under the dictatorship regime like this country and there is nothing that can be done to change it, at least in a peaceful way there is no way to change it. unfortunately. now this does not affect the price and does not harm bitcoin, the market is much bigger and does not depend on these regimes to maintain itself, which is why news like this fortunately does not change anything for bitcoin

[romero121]

In a country where the population is less than 10 million it isn't a big thing to stop P2P and other services that are connected with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Most of the time it is the people who make the government to take a stand against crypto. Here also it is the fraudulent activity of a particular person had made the government pass the new order which states no more P2P crypto trades.

[loopes]

We cannot deny that trading P2P certainly pose a risk for both party since meeting face to face may trigger a crime if the other party intend to swindle the other party.  In a huge transaction, this might result in a bloodbath.  This is also one reason why I prefer selling my BTC in an online exchange to avoid this kind of incident.

In person trade is not the only form of p2p transaction, any transaction that doesn't involve a third party or a middleman is a p2p transaction, if you trade on Bisq or if i send you BTC right now and you send me fiat or any other commodity that i request in exchange, that's a p2p transaction. There is nothing dangerous or risky about it, if you don't like it in the form of in person trade, then use the other forms.

Yeah i agree with you, Z-tight. The definition of P2P (Peer to Peer) transaction is a transaction that made by a person to another one through an intermediary. that is what Wikipedia said. So, it must not to meet face to face between both party. since serjent05 thought that P2P should do a meeting face to face party, maybe he think that P2P is Person to Person, so maybe he also think that people in belarus will get risk if they do bitcoin transaction by meeting face to face.

[dansus021]

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.

Yes totally right in my home country Indonesia Crypto is considered like a commodity and there is a government that ruled them and the benefit for the government is they collect taxes from the company's profit and from the traders

and the bright side is no ban on Bitcoin. Win-win solution like this that we need to another country:D. But yeah P2P will not ever be gone

[blue Snow]

In a country where the population is less than 10 million it isn't a big thing to stop P2P and other services that are connected with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Most of the time it is the people who make the government to take a stand against crypto. Here also it is the fraudulent activity of a particular person had made the government pass the new order which states no more P2P crypto trades.

Nowadays, there are more and more ways to hide transactions from wallet to exchange, whatever kind, people can still hide it so it's not tracked by the government. I think it's become a mission impossible if they continue it because people can use Mixer. Actually, if the government wants to control society, a good way is to create a centralization exchange where the government can control it anytime and everywhere if find shady transactions.

[SquirrelJulietGarden]

to be honest, news of this kind coming from a country like Belarus does not surprise me because we all know or at least I suppose we all know that Belarus is a country controlled by Russia and we all know Russia's position in relation to cryptocurrencies, especially in this wartime I have heard news of people who were arrested in Russia for using bitcoin, they are being accused of sending bitcoin to Ukrainians who are fighting, and see that for these people to be arrested is because the Russian government is monitoring all its people

Do I miss any update about cryptocurrency adoption in Russia since their invasion to Ukraine?

Russia announced their plan for Digital Rubble in 2019. The progress is good as I know and they are in Pilot phase for their Digital Rubble. I remembered I read that in Russia, there are national conflicts on regulations cryptocurrency but I don't names of those authorities, Central bank and one more authority.

Russia Cryptocurrency Laws

In July 2020, Vladimir Putin signed a regulation on digital financial asset (DFA) transactions that legalizes cryptocurrency transactions but prohibits their use as payments for goods and services. Russian banks and exchanges can be operators of DFAs if they register with the central bank known as the Bank of Russia. The Bank of Russia has the authority to maintain registration of information systems and register operators of DFAs and supervise” the business of information system operators.” To challenge cryptocurrency transactions in court, parties must have declared these transactions and their possession of cryptocurrency.

Starting January 1, 2021, cryptocurrency owners whose transactions amount exceeds 600,000 rubles ($7,757) in a calendar year will be required to report their crypto transactions and wallet balances to the Russian tax authorities. The law applies equally to individuals and organizations. Russian governmental officials will be required to declare if they have any cryptocurrencies. The reporting deadline for these individuals and entities will be on April 30, 2022. Additionally, crypto exchanges and miners will be required to provide information on their cryptocurrency transactions to Rosfinmonitoring, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service. The finance ministry stated that the regulation is necessary to prevent illegal cryptocurrency transactions, including money laundering. The law will take effect on January 1, 2021.

[FinneysTrueVision]

Belarus is under heavy sanctions due to their support of Russia in their war with Ukraine. Many people in Belarus will want to find alternatives to circumvent sanctions and that would weaken the belarusian rouble. Saying that it is about preventing illicit activity is not really credible because criminals prefer to use fiat but politicians use that excuse all the time when they want to hinder Bitcoin adoption.

[yhiaali3]

That's right, there is nothing that can stop P2P trading. These peer-to-peer transactions are difficult to track or control. While governments consider this an illegal phenomenon that must be stopped, we see it as a great advantage that Bitcoin has given us.

In my country, for example, there are no legitimate exchanges to exchange bitcoins into fiat, so the only way available to us is P2P. The government does not want such transactions and pursues them, but they will never be able to stop them.

[YUriy1991]

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).

I think that's an over-generalization and the fact is that not all P2P transactions involve criminal activity, because many users engage in legitimate and legal exchanges for various purposes and I think that the Prohibition can be seen as unduly limiting the privacy rights and individual rights of many people.

If a particular platform is banned, I think individuals can still find alternative ways/options to trade directly with each other, making it difficult for the authorities to enforce the ban effectively.

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.

Instead, policymakers there should focus on implementing regulations and measures to curb objectionable activity while allowing legitimate and legal use cases to develop.

[wxa7115]

That's right, there is nothing that can stop P2P trading. These peer-to-peer transactions are difficult to track or control. While governments consider this an illegal phenomenon that must be stopped, we see it as a great advantage that Bitcoin has given us.

In my country, for example, there are no legitimate exchanges to exchange bitcoins into fiat, so the only way available to us is P2P. The government does not want such transactions and pursues them, but they will never be able to stop them.

The only crime of those people was that they were just servicing too many people, P2P transactions are fine but since governments want to know even the color of our underwear then they cannot allow for such a thing to continue.

But it does not matter if they allow it or not, this is going to continue as those that are looking to keep some sort of privacy in this world are not going to give up so easily, especially now that centralized exchanges follow the policies of governments incredibly closely and you cannot use one without identifying yourself.

[vitya1982]

That's right, there is nothing that can stop P2P trading. These peer-to-peer transactions are difficult to track or control. While governments consider this an illegal phenomenon that must be stopped, we see it as a great advantage that Bitcoin has given us.

In my country, for example, there are no legitimate exchanges to exchange bitcoins into fiat, so the only way available to us is P2P. The government does not want such transactions and pursues them, but they will never be able to stop them.

The only crime of those people was that they were just servicing too many people, P2P transactions are fine but since governments want to know even the color of our underwear then they cannot allow for such a thing to continue.

But it does not matter if they allow it or not, this is going to continue as those that are looking to keep some sort of privacy in this world are not going to give up so easily, especially now that centralized exchanges follow the policies of governments incredibly closely and you cannot use one without identifying yourself.

Well, you can simply avoid centralized exchanges, there are a lot of ways to buy Bitcoin without them and keep it in a non-custodial wallet. I'm using OWNR wallet, but there are at least dozens of other fine alternatives.

[GreatArkansas]

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

Exactly, it's like they want to ban Bitcoin.
P2P transactions for me come in a lot of ways, these P2P exchanges what we see on most exchanges are the basics. Because for me, P2P really involves no 3rd party or some middleman, it will direct to buyer and seller which you can't really ban because you can't control these people.

[Zoomic]

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

Exactly, it's like they want to ban Bitcoin.
P2P transactions for me come in a lot of ways, these P2P exchanges what we see on most exchanges are the basics. Because for me, P2P really involves no 3rd party or some middleman, it will direct to buyer and seller which you can't really ban because you can't control these people.

What the government of Belarus can ban is the false p2p that is being done on centralized exchanges. The real p2p which does not require a third party, rather than signing signatures cannot be banned by the government.
Meanwhile, what I perceived that the Government of Belarus want to do is control all the crypto transactions happening in the country in one strong and centralized exchange controlled by them. I think this is not healthy for the cryptocurrency industry.

[NotATether]

Bitcoin P2P transactions cannot be banned. There is no mechanism with which to detect that a Bitcoin transaction has been made, let alone detect who has made a transaction[1], since you can broadcast a transaction with a completely different IP address outside of Belarus' authority.

Maybe he wants to ban exchanges or off-ramps or the equivalent.

[1]: Outside of the very obvious and standard blockchain analysis services, but even these require a trail to already have been made that goes through a KYC service.

The idea is not to ban Bitcoin P2P transactions but to deem anyone found participating in such activities a criminal who may be prosecuted and "legally" deprived of their belongings, including cryptocurrency holdings. Authoritarian government merely wants more leverage to control its citizens, which is why it keeps introducing such ridiculous laws that can't be realistically enforced at a large scale, but that can be used against opposition and other "wrong" people. Needless to say, "a high cybercrime rate" is just an excuse to introduce more prohibitions.

Belarusians can broadcast their transactions using a full node, or with any pushtx-style webpage while connected over a VPN or Tor, to obfuscate the location where the transactions were made. And there's no way for authorities to reliably track the location of the user with this method because all that remains in APIs are a bunch of node IP addresses and (at worst) client IP addresses that have visited a particular webpage, if they decide to take their internet surveillance that far.

Not that I think they will, as this seems to be a very incompetent government as far as technology is concerned.

[OcTradism]

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.

It is potentially big problem if you have trades with scammers.

If you have trades with good trade partners, trades will be completed smoothly, no problem for both sides and I believe your trade partners will not report you to banks immorally like that.

Oppositely if you have trades with bad trade partners. Because they are scammers, if they fail to scam you and if you win disputes, their accounts get banned, they will react in some weird immoral ways. One of such immoral ways is reporting you to banks and governments. It is one of risks but it is barely seen and sometimes, if your bank account is terminated, frozen, you will not know exact reasons.

[BlackHatCoiner]

You can't practically ban P2P protocols. You can try to regulate them in an extent but you can't completely prohibit the use of bitcoin, unless you prohibit the access to the Internet. Therefore, you can only block access if you ban yourself from the WWW.

It's called a firing squad and after seeing it in action a few times your survival instincts will actively block you from signing any tx!

Your survival instincts must also take into account your survival apart from your well-being. I'm pretty sure people would use it if needed.