Altcoins Talks - Cryptocurrency Forum
Learning & News => News related to Crypto => Topic started by: electronicash on July 30, 2024, 09:49:46 PM
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Russia approves law allowing use of crypto for global payments as it faces ongoing sanctions
- The lower house of Russia’s parliament on Tuesday approved a law that permits making international payments via cryptocurrencies, local media reported.
- Russia’s central bank is itself looking to move money across borders using crypto before the end of 2024, Governor Elvira Nabiullina said.
- The U.S. and its allies have imposed innumerable sanctions on Russian individuals and entities in retaliation to its assault on Ukraine.
Russian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a new law permitting the use of cryptocurrency for international payments, as the country faces ongoing financial pressure from Western sanctions.
The State Duma, which is the lower house of the Russian Parliament, on Tuesday gave the initial greenlight to the new legislation, which would allow businesses to use cryptocurrencies for cross-border trade, local media reported.
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/07/30/russia-considers-legalizing-crypto-as-a-form-of-payment-amid-sanctions.html
their government is now reversing its stance to crypto to circumvent the sanctions imposed by US. With such law to be approved, they may be able to make trades to any countries buying oil from them. countries that are sanctions might also be using BTC as mentioned in the article is North Korea. while crypto transactions can circumvent to sanctions, tracking all these transactions is very possible for all as well. this will all be transparent.
will the miners be useful this time to censor transactions?
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Sanctions are definitely the reason for this. Normally Putin is a dictator, so that means he would not want something as decentralized as Bitcoin to exist in his nation and would prefer to ban it, but even if not ban it, regulate it heavily. But considering western nations are focusing on sanctions, that means not only Russians are having trouble selling their stuff and using anything else for payment, and also there are many oligarchs who are rich enough that they want to bring their money back, to avoid sanctions and asset freeze. So that is why I think its clear that we are seeing Russia putting crypto in a good light for them.
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As much as I would prefer Bitcoin to stay away from political tensions, especially those related to US sanctions, it seems that the legal status of Bitcoin in Russia is very variable and I did not think that there was legislation restricting the dealings of cryptocurrencies. If anyone has more details about the legal status of Bitcoin, I hope you add it as a summary below
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As much as I would prefer Bitcoin to stay away from political tensions, especially those related to US sanctions, it seems that the legal status of Bitcoin in Russia is very variable and I did not think that there was legislation restricting the dealings of cryptocurrencies. If anyone has more details about the legal status of Bitcoin, I hope you add it as a summary below
Only thing that I can add is that way back 2018, as far as I can remember, Russia's stance is somewhat on the middle. I mean there will be a government official that will say that they are pro-crypto and then the next day, another official says a different tune. That's why I remember back when that the consensus of the community is to stay away from Russia or take everything with a bag of salt everything they will have to say against crypto. There were even a time when Putin meet with Vitalik Buterin and everyone applauded that and think it's going to be a welcoming news for Russia but nothing has materialized. But with what has happened to them and to a extend to North Korean although they went further with the hackings of crypto exchanges to get funds, Russia by now should be looking for crypto to saved them at least and circumvent the trade embargo or what the West is sanctioning them because of the war.
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I am looking at this news as positive for the cryptocurrency industry though this can be raising some eyebrows on the part of the country imposing the economic sactions which is the USA. However, we should note that I am sure Russia has many ways to deal with the sactions and this cryptocurrency option is just one of them. Indeed, anybody can use cryptocurrency to get away from the controlling power of any government and this time around it is the government of Russia against the government of USA. As to your concern, I am not sure if miners would be hassled to block any transaction with the intent to circumvent the saction but let's see if USA will be using its influence on this matter but I highly doubt it.
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The State Duma, which is the lower house of the Russian Parliament, on Tuesday gave the initial greenlight to the new legislation, which would allow businesses to use cryptocurrencies for cross-border trade, local media reported.
Initially it seems to be big news. But looking at this quoted part, it means they also can use Bitcoin with other group who already ignore sanction in first place. Although i expect this law will add more pressure to centralized mining/stacking pool to not include certain TX.
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I am looking at this news as positive for the cryptocurrency industry though this can be raising some eyebrows on the part of the country imposing the economic sactions which is the USA. However, we should note that I am sure Russia has many ways to deal with the sactions and this cryptocurrency option is just one of them. Indeed, anybody can use cryptocurrency to get away from the controlling power of any government and this time around it is the government of Russia against the government of USA. As to your concern, I am not sure if miners would be hassled to block any transaction with the intent to circumvent the saction but let's see if USA will be using its influence on this matter but I highly doubt it.
Every news that talks about crypto or Bitcoin being used by a certain country and makes a lot about it, is welcoming to us. However, we have to look at the context on why suddenly the Russians soften their stance on crypto and as if they suddenly make a U-turn.
And we found out that it's because of the sanctions on them that suddenly they turn into crypto to save them from what the government of USA is imposing of them. So for me this is just born out of the necessities and circumstances and if everything goes to normal again, I highly doubt that they will keep this crypto friendly law.
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Well, I guess opening their gates for crypto payments will be an added measure aside from being a founding member of BRICS.
will the miners be useful this time to censor transactions?
Yeah, this is the interesting part. Miners based in US, UK, and maybe EU could be forced to block transactions going to known Russian addresses. The smallers miners outside those regions wouldn't care.
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I can only say about such a decision - hypocrites who first forbid something because they are obsessed with controlling everything around them, now they feel the pressure of sanctions and suddenly change their decision not to make it easier for their people, but to be able to finance their war machine more effectively.
In January 2022, the Russian central bank proposed banning the use of crypto for transactions, as well as the mining of digital currencies, citing threats to financial stability, citizens’ wellbeing and monetary policy sovereignty.
I won't go into what anyone thinks about the fact that Russia will use cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions, but I will just say that for all of us it will only mean more controls, restrictions and attacks on privacy.
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Only thing that I can add is that way back 2018, as far as I can remember, Russia's stance is somewhat on the middle. I mean there will be a government official that will say that they are pro-crypto and then the next day, another official says a different tune. That's why I remember back when that the consensus of the community is to stay away from Russia or take everything with a bag of salt everything they will have to say against crypto. There were even a time when Putin meet with Vitalik Buterin and everyone applauded that and think it's going to be a welcoming news for Russia but nothing has materialized. But with what has happened to them and to a extend to North Korean although they went further with the hackings of crypto exchanges to get funds, Russia by now should be looking for crypto to saved them at least and circumvent the trade embargo or what the West is sanctioning them because of the war.
Russia stance on crypto has been fluctuating: banks want to ban crypto to protect fiat, while the finance ministry seeks to leverage crypto to circumvent sanctions. Having lived in Russia, I witnessed firsthand the challenges faced when many Russian banks were cut off from SWIFT, businesses suffered even more when forced to rely on services from China or India.
I believe that once crypto is adopted in Russia, Western governments will intensify efforts to track and sanction countries that continue to trade with Russia using crypto. BTC or ETH won't be viable due to their transparency, privacy coins seem like the most suitable option if Russia truly wants to sustain global trade without succumbing to sanctions.
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With lots of sanctions being imposed by them, I'm not surprised that they will allow it on their country.
I mean we know how much these sanctions affected their economy. They know that they can't stay like this forever, and they need to do something. What's the solution? Cryptocurrency. :D
Well, it's a win for us crypto investors since this increases the adoption rate of Bitcoin... or is it? I just hope that this move by them will be more of a positive one than a negative one.
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It seems like big news that the Russian government has agreed to accept Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments across borders to evade US sanctions. Not long ago, Russia banned Bitcoin and now it is using it to evade sanctions.
But Russian citizens shouldn’t be too happy about the news because the government will definitely not allow them to do the same. This is only allowed for the government and close figures, as happened previously in Iran where the government used Bitcoin to evade US sanctions but at the same time banned citizens from using it.
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With lots of sanctions being imposed by them, I'm not surprised that they will allow it on their country.
I mean we know how much these sanctions affected their economy. They know that they can't stay like this forever, and they need to do something. What's the solution? Cryptocurrency. :D
Well, it's a win for us crypto investors since this increases the adoption rate of Bitcoin... or is it? I just hope that this move by them will be more of a positive one than a negative one.
if they see Bitcoin is about to be adopted in US through Trump, there wouldn't be a reason for them to also adopt it. in fact they were mining along with China in the early days of Bitcoin. they also have developers off cryptocurrencies from their country such as Vitalik and Sasha.
it depends on which side you are going to listen. because there is always two sides of every story and regulating the decentralize currency should be done by their own government. If Russia's regulation is stringent then its their rules. If US has less stringent rules then its also their rules.
but miners will likely play a role making BTC not so decentralized.
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It seems like big news that the Russian government has agreed to accept Bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments across borders to evade US sanctions. Not long ago, Russia banned Bitcoin and now it is using it to evade sanctions.
But Russian citizens shouldn’t be too happy about the news because the government will definitely not allow them to do the same. This is only allowed for the government and close figures, as happened previously in Iran where the government used Bitcoin to evade US sanctions but at the same time banned citizens from using it.
Do not mind all what you see on news. Or I should say that some peooke will look at the news and give it different meaning. Not able to make payment in bitcoin does not means Russians are not using bitcoin for some online payments because everything can not be known to the government. And also that does not mean Russians are not trading and holding bitcoin. What that is most important in the adoption is to be able to trade and hold bitcoin. No need for payment use.
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their government is now reversing its stance to crypto to circumvent the sanctions imposed by US. With such law to be approved, they may be able to make trades to any countries buying oil from them. countries that are sanctions might also be using BTC as mentioned in the article is North Korea. while crypto transactions can circumvent to sanctions, tracking all these transactions is very possible for all as well. this will all be transparent.
will the miners be useful this time to censor transactions?
They aren't going to make trades with North Korea but if they are going to then it mean they are doing it previously. Dealing with North Korea is not a big deal somehow North Korea is making deals with everyone. This new law by Russia will proved to be good for Bitcoin.
To be honest BTC will grow more and this law change will increase the demand which even the selling of Silk Road selling won't cover. If Russia will be dealing to all of the countries in BTC not only when buying or selling OIL but every other product then this is a big win for BTC.
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Using Bitcoin to avoid economic sanctions doesn’t seem right. The percentage of Bitcoin that can be bought and sold without being noticed would be a few thousand or millions of dollars, which is not enough to bypass sanctions on a large country like Russia. Bitcoin’s high transparency makes it a poor choice for anyone who wants to try something illegal.
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Using Bitcoin to avoid economic sanctions doesn’t seem right.
~snip~
Sanctions imposed on a country exist to force it to change what the majority of governments in the world believe to be wrong, and any way or means that can potentially help circumvent these sanctions will come under fire from all those who support the sanctions. This means that Western governments will look for a way to put all crypto exchanges under even greater control, to prevent any form of achieving privacy (mixers) and to make life even more difficult for all of us.
However, Russia uses cryptocurrencies all the time, and they don't need any law to do it - it's important that the ruler gives the green light and the state can sell ice cream for BTC.
Russia’s official government news agency, Tass, reported that the government was turning to stablecoins to make cross-border payments to friendly nations as a way to bypass sanctions... “The Finance Ministry and the Bank of Russia agreed that in the current conditions ‘it is impossible to do without cross-border settlements in cryptocurrency,’” Tass reported on Tuesday (Sept. 6.).
As a result, Russia is working to create new bilateral payments platforms using “mutually acceptable tokenized instruments” to bypass the need to use dollars or euros for international settlements, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseyev told Tass.
These are “essentially clearing platforms that we are currently developing with these countries,” he said. “Stablecoins can be pegged to some generally recognized instrument, for example, gold, the value of which is clear and observable for all participants.” It isn’t the first time Russia has talked of using crypto to bypass sanctions, even as it bans its use by citizens to make payments.
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their government is now reversing its stance to crypto to circumvent the sanctions imposed by US. With such law to be approved, they may be able to make trades to any countries buying oil from them. countries that are sanctions might also be using BTC as mentioned in the article is North Korea. while crypto transactions can circumvent to sanctions, tracking all these transactions is very possible for all as well. this will all be transparent.
will the miners be useful this time to censor transactions?
That's a good thing for the crypto market because the demand for BTC will increase once international imports and exports are done in the form of BTC as a payment method. This is bullish news then why market is dumping? I guess people are taking profit as it reached 70,000 dollars last and people must be so fed up by the dump they faced and instantly booked when the price came back to this tag.
I was also planning to book as I saw the price but did not because I thought I should wait longer. Well, that's another topic. Russia really made a good move to improve their trading system, I mean this will not only help them but help all the BTC community as in the long run millions of dollars will be trading in the form of BTC and that's a big loss to US but I have concerns that, does it really going to devalue dollar because most of the people prefer to trade in BTC/USDT pair and USDT is backed by real assets like USD or other (which I don't think they really have enough funds to back their trillions of supply).
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Definitely needs to become more common for companies that deal with international business. I mean moving money around from one nation to another nation isn't simple, not impossible neither and many of them do it, if you are a huge company then it isn't a big deal at all, but it has a lot of paperwork and a lot of regulations. With crypto it would be so much simpler, of course its also an issue, imagine being a company and sending 1.5 million dollars to wrong address, that is why most of them will not accept using bitcoin but if we can make it a bit more common then we are going to definitely enjoy this.
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will the miners be useful this time to censor transactions?
The BTC network is censorship resistant and it should not be involved in any censorship or filtering. There is a huge danger for the BTC network if it becomes involved in politics, BTC should be apolitical. I don't support what Russia is doing in Ukraine, but if miners start censoring any tx at all, it opens the pandora's box and that is bad news for the network.
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They are subjected to extraordinary sanctions by the West. Despite this, they have had minimal problems and the West has been on the brink of energy crises. They may have wanted to use cryptocurrencies to circumvent some of the sanctions. This is perfectly understandable. A few years ago, I wouldn't have thought that countries like Russia would have a positive opinion about cryptocurrencies, but today brings us completely different circumstances and results. Past experiences give us some important clues when we want to draw a perspective for the future, but they don't always point to the right conclusion...
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does it really going to devalue dollar because most of the people prefer to trade in BTC/USDT pair and USDT is backed by real assets like USD or other (which I don't think they really have enough funds to back their trillions of supply).
I don't see how this relates to the U.S dollar nor how it is going to devalue it, Russia is simply doing this to circumvent sanction, they don't care about BTC or freedom, only control. You also talk about usdt, and i am not sure how it relates here too, though it is true that so many usdt coins are printed out of thin air and are not backed by anything.
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--snip--
I believe that once crypto is adopted in Russia, Western governments will intensify efforts to track and sanction countries that continue to trade with Russia using crypto. BTC or ETH won't be viable due to their transparency, privacy coins seem like the most suitable option if Russia truly wants to sustain global trade without succumbing to sanctions.
Privacy coins have low count of daily transaction, so i wonder whether the network can sustain amount of such transaction. And while government could track those BTC or ETH, they would just use it services which ignore sanction or try using mixer.
But Russian citizens shouldn’t be too happy about the news because the government will definitely not allow them to do the same. This is only allowed for the government and close figures, as happened previously in Iran where the government used Bitcoin to evade US sanctions but at the same time banned citizens from using it.
That's right, the news only state about giving such right to business on certain type of trade. They wouldn't give up having chance to track and control people's money that easily.
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That's a good thing for the crypto market because the demand for BTC will increase once international imports and exports are done in the form of BTC as a payment method. This is bullish news then why market is dumping? I guess people are taking profit as it reached 70,000 dollars last and people must be so fed up by the dump they faced and instantly booked when the price came back to this tag.
I was also planning to book as I saw the price but did not because I thought I should wait longer. Well, that's another topic. Russia really made a good move to improve their trading system, I mean this will not only help them but help all the BTC community as in the long run millions of dollars will be trading in the form of BTC and that's a big loss to US but I have concerns that, does it really going to devalue dollar because most of the people prefer to trade in BTC/USDT pair and USDT is backed by real assets like USD or other (which I don't think they really have enough funds to back their trillions of supply).
I don't know buddy why the market is frustrating at the current time as we have seen, faced a lot of good developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem and we know that when it comes to the import and export level then it is sure that import and exports at international level contains a huge amount of money volume and when this volume will come into the bitcoin market than the demand will high and price will go higher but on the same side we are still facing these dumps in the market.
on the other hand, the market is making pumping and dumping in the same price zone again and again. this is really getting frustrating me haha, well as you mentioned above that people may be booking their profits out of the market so I think only those investors are booking their profits out of market who are getting trapped by this fluctuation. But big money still holding in the current time and they know this game like how long they should stay in the market.
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In another news Russia is now announcing total ban of g00gle, android and iOS, so they are probably going to do something similar like China.
I heard that some youtubers are already having issues uploading videos, so they are certainly working on that.
I wouldn't be surprised if internet and bitcoin would not work the same way from next year.
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I don't see how this relates to the U.S dollar nor how it is going to devalue it, Russia is simply doing this to circumvent sanction, they don't care about BTC or freedom, only control. You also talk about usdt, and i am not sure how it relates here too, though it is true that so many usdt coins are printed out of thin air and are not backed by anything.
As Russia is a part of BRICS it is a step made to devalue the US dollar by not utilizing it in trades made among the members of BRICS. Many people are already aware of BRICS and the topic of the devaluation of the US dollar. So in BRICS they won't be using the US dollar for trades means devaluing it, and I said do they also think using BTC for trades will devalue the Dollar like a bonus with BRICS's results?
I do agree with the fact that they might not care about BTC or freedom but don't you think they are enjoying that freedom right now by using it freely for international trade? I think they do care about BTC and its freedom and if these steps prove to be a success then they might even legalize it as well.
I talked about the USDT pair as most people use it and USDT is backed by the US dollar so if people are using the BTC/USDT pair it means they are using USDT and which also means they are using the US dollar indirectly. (Source (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/stablecoin.asp#:~:text=Tether%20(USDT)%20is%20a%20stablecoin,currencies%20like%20the%20U.S.%20dollar.&text=USD%20Coin%20(USDC)%20is%20a,dollars%20and%20dollar%2Ddenominated%20assets.))
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Using Bitcoin to avoid economic sanctions doesn’t seem right. The percentage of Bitcoin that can be bought and sold without being noticed would be a few thousand or millions of dollars, which is not enough to bypass sanctions on a large country like Russia. Bitcoin’s high transparency makes it a poor choice for anyone who wants to try something illegal.
What came to my mind when reading this is that, if you don't want to learn easily, you might end up learning the hard way. Many of these governments around the world are scared of adopting bitcoin when on the other hands they run to embrace it in difficult times. I think what bitcoin have come to address is a free financial world where amidst any fight among countries, people can still go about their international trades and even the government will have the window to a large extent. What's it will all these sanctionings when countries go into hot or cold war with another. Some will say to punish the victimized country but to me it still doesn't make sense. Anyone who's interested to go out their business with a country should be allowed to freely do so, it doesn't matter. One man's sin cannot be allowed to affect another because they're in business. This is one aspect I think bitcoin can address because I don't think anyone can sanction bitcoin transactions.
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I don't know buddy why the market is frustrating at the current time as we have seen, faced a lot of good developments in the Bitcoin ecosystem and we know that when it comes to the import and export level then it is sure that import and exports at international level contains a huge amount of money volume and when this volume will come into the bitcoin market than the demand will high and price will go higher but on the same side we are still facing these dumps in the market.
I can't agree more with you because dealings in internationals trades are so big and if Russia is going to be the buyer or seller then the deals will be more bigger. The amount that he will put into the BTC will definitely pump the price. For now, it's just a news that's why market is not pumping to that level.
The dumps we are seeing is due to an increment on the interest rate of loans that Japan gave international mostly US people and which has disrupts the stock market as well.
on the other hand, the market is making pumping and dumping in the same price zone again and again. this is really getting frustrating me haha, well as you mentioned above that people may be booking their profits out of the market so I think only those investors are booking their profits out of market who are getting trapped by this fluctuation. But big money still holding in the current time and they know this game like how long they should stay in the market.
Small pumps and dumps are only making profit and loss to day traders, because they have to make some money daily but it does not mean they always make a profit, they also make a loss as well. The point is small P&Ds are not for holders, the point of this discussion should be is this development beneficial for the market these small P&Ds don't matter in the long run game.
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Using Bitcoin to avoid economic sanctions doesn’t seem right. The percentage of Bitcoin that can be bought and sold without being noticed would be a few thousand or millions of dollars, which is not enough to bypass sanctions on a large country like Russia. Bitcoin’s high transparency makes it a poor choice for anyone who wants to try something illegal.
What came to my mind when reading this is that, if you don't want to learn easily, you might end up learning the hard way. Many of these governments around the world are scared of adopting bitcoin when on the other hands they run to embrace it in difficult times. I think what bitcoin have come to address is a free financial world where amidst any fight among countries, people can still go about their international trades and even the government will have the window to a large extent. What's it will all these sanctionings when countries go into hot or cold war with another. Some will say to punish the victimized country but to me it still doesn't make sense. Anyone who's interested to go out their business with a country should be allowed to freely do so, it doesn't matter. One man's sin cannot be allowed to affect another because they're in business. This is one aspect I think bitcoin can address because I don't think anyone can sanction bitcoin transactions.
exactly. why does it have to become illegal when Russia's government are the ones making the transaction while its not illegal when other countries are going to make the Bitcoin transaction?
how is it illegal to buy wheat from other country using BTC because for the most part, it could be the basic necessity that is to be bought from other countries such as wheat. and so what if its transparent, isn't that what we all want than using the fiat where they could just hide how much and what its for?
if a country buys microchips from China, so be it. if the two countries make a deal and agrees to the condition. there is nothing that can stop the transaction.
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Great decision, Russia take a fantastic step for economic development. I think it will be very helpful Russian economy. Russia approves law allowing use of crypto for global payments for this decision Russia will be grow up from economic crisis. We know that Western countries mainly America given economic restriction for Russia and Russia are not interested to use US dollar. so instead of US Dollar crypto-currency is best alternative I think.
I also think if Russia use cryptocurrency properly they will never fall in economic crisis. Then western economic restriction will not work properly. So cryptocurrency could be blessing for Russia I think.
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Great decision, Russia take a fantastic step for economic development. I think it will be very helpful Russian economy. Russia approves law allowing use of crypto for global payments for this decision Russia will be grow up from economic crisis. We know that Western countries mainly America given economic restriction for Russia and Russia are not interested to use US dollar. so instead of US Dollar crypto-currency is best alternative I think.
What do you mean? Russia's economy has been taking a hit since the war, and we don't hear reports about economic development as Putin's government is zone in the war itself. And as you have said, US and the rest of the West are giving Russia economic sanctions already and that's why they suddenly make a U-turn and starting to go full-crypto.
I also think if Russia use cryptocurrency properly they will never fall in economic crisis. Then western economic restriction will not work properly. So cryptocurrency could be blessing for Russia I think.
It's just one way to circumvent the restrictions to them. But if they really wanted to, they will have to build mining rigs and start mining Bitcoin for their government. That could be the best way for them to make crypto work on their side and not rely on other nations.
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What do you mean? Russia's economy has been taking a hit since the war, and we don't hear reports about economic development as Putin's government is zone in the war itself. And as you have said, US and the rest of the West are giving Russia economic sanctions already and that's why they suddenly make a U-turn and starting to go full-crypto.
I do not have any proof related to the Russian economy but I certainly understand war needs money and so far Russia has not asked any country for billions of dollars to fund its war. One thing is for sure the sanction did not work for Russia and the only problem that they are facing is unable to use the SWIFT payment system.
It's just one way to circumvent the restrictions to them. But if they really wanted to, they will have to build mining rigs and start mining Bitcoin for their government. That could be the best way for them to make crypto work on their side and not rely on other nations.
Bitcoin is decentralized and Russia is heavily centralized by Putin. I do not think he will think about Bitcoin mining if he does think about it later on, it will be heavily regulated.
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Great decision, Russia take a fantastic step for economic development. I think it will be very helpful Russian economy. Russia approves law allowing use of crypto for global payments for this decision Russia will be grow up from economic crisis. We know that Western countries mainly America given economic restriction for Russia and Russia are not interested to use US dollar. so instead of US Dollar crypto-currency is best alternative I think.
I also think if Russia use cryptocurrency properly they will never fall in economic crisis. Then western economic restriction will not work properly. So cryptocurrency could be blessing for Russia I think.
I would have considered this good news for crypto if it had been announced a few years ago and confirmed the Russian government support for crypto. Now it is being used as a way to avoid sanctions and get more resources to fund the war of aggression against Ukraine, which makes crypto a tool for acts of sabotage against peace and food security globally. This is not the scenario I want.
We will need more time to see what crypto Russia will use and what restrictions the West can apply to this. If Russia uses privacy coins like XMR + ZEC + DASH they can avoid onchain data analysis and investigation.
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Sanctions are definitely the reason for this. Normally Putin is a dictator, so that means he would not want something as decentralized as Bitcoin to exist in his nation and would prefer to ban it, but even if not ban it, regulate it heavily. But considering western nations are focusing on sanctions, that means not only Russians are having trouble selling their stuff and using anything else for payment, and also there are many oligarchs who are rich enough that they want to bring their money back, to avoid sanctions and asset freeze. So that is why I think its clear that we are seeing Russia putting crypto in a good light for them.
The analysis you have made is quite logical and highlights an important aspect about Russia's position in the current global geopolitical context. Russia, especially under Putin, has long emphasized central control and a state-run economic structure. Naturally, this can be uncomfortable for an authoritarian government, with a decentralized and out-of-control technology like cryptocurrency. However, you rightly point out that Western sanctions have forced Russia to look for an alternative path. The impact of sanctions on the Russian economy has been massive. As a result, cryptocurrency has emerged as an attractive alternative, which can serve as a means of circumventing sanctions. This is especially true of wealthy individuals and oligarchs, who may use cryptocurrencies to protect their wealth and carry out international transactions.