Russia Intends to Ban All Cryptocurrencies

[mlawson71]

While other countries are embracing cryptocurrencies, Russia does not just plan to ban them, it plans to criminalize them! The new legislation defines cryptocurrencies as properties and bans their circulation and issuance on Russian territory.
Once the proposed legislation is signed into law it individuals and organizations will be prohibited with operate with any cryptocurrency, including processing payments for goods and services.
People who break the law will be fined between 50k rubles ($700 on average) to 500k rubles ($7 000). Organizations that do the same can be fined up to 2 million rubles or $28K. But that is not all – Russian authorities can imprison people up to 7 years depending on the size of the illegal operation and the damage they think it has caused the Russian financial system.
Source
Driving cryptocurrency exchanges and their clients underground won't lead to anything good for anyone, I think.