Topic: How do I use Bitcoin in a country that it is banned? (Read 596 times)

First if you are. from a country where bitcoin is banner restricted, you will have to know how to deal with the asset since cryptocurrency can not be banned due to its decentralized nature so all you need to do is to apply caution to whatever your dealings are with such assets, I still remember when there was one or two complains of fake finance accounts from government agents tracking individual cryptic currency dealing on that exchange it I don't know how rampant that wave is now since traders already know they tricks and again since Bitcoin is decentralized, you can still engage in it without any third party involvement as long as you know how to avoid the red lights that can flag your accounts.

Then you should hold it more and try to withdraw it when you start visiting other country that does not ban crypto wherein they have lots of legit exchanges that are reliable. Otherwise, if you insist to use your crypto in your own country, then you might be investigated about it and might be charge for not abiding with the law.

You're actually saying by peer to peer transaction which a Satoshi's own vision and that's why Bitcoin isn't depend on any third entity, but you're not entirely correct here. Crypto wallet has many vary, it could be a custodial wallet, non custodial wallet, run in your own node, run in someone server etc. If you're using a wallet that run in someone server or using custodial wallet, your Bitcoin can still being monitored since they have a way to look your transaction and the balance.

A list of companies has entirely or partially stopped customer service in Russia and Belarus.
https://medium.com/@apirone/bans-of-crypto-and-payment-forwarding-43471f2dca6

and a short manual on what is Crypto payment Forwarding. I hope it will help you.

You can use a crypto wallet to use bitcoins in banned countries, which is what I do. Bitcoin transactions are illegal in my country either. I use crypto wallet for bitcoin transactions. There is no fear of transaction. You can make as many transactions as you want. For that no one will monitor your account like a bank. And you don't have to depend on any third person. Which I think is very easy and safe to transact in crypto wallet.And it can be used even in prohibited countries.

The OP took the case in a country where crypto is completely banned, so what exactly are crypto laws in your country? You said "withdraw" which I understand it came from the exchange. If the crypto exchange is legal in your country, then you don't have to worry that much even if you withdraw a large amount. After all, banks have different considerations than you about large transactions that could be considered suspicious.

This is according to my personal experience,
when I withdraw a large enough amount of money,
I withdraw the money not to a bank account

because I have more than one bank account, so I distribute withdrawals to all accounts in a not too large amount,

so the bank will not be suspicious because in each account there is no balance that suddenly jumps high,

that's the way I've been using it so far.

I don't expect that more regulation will make the government more successful in centralizing crypto users. You can expect some reasonable rules like a ban on the use of crypto as a means of payment, but you certainly wouldn't expect the government to impose a tax on your crypto holdings instead of a per-transaction tax on exchanges.

Another option I'm thinking of in your situation is moving to a country that doesn't ban cryptocurrencies and their use as a means of payment. You're talking about big amount, so you need to consider every aspect so that you don't get stuck and continue to be on the brink.

I've always said that crypto needs more regulations, not banning, so there is nothing to worry yourself about when you are legit with your crypto dealings. However, it is a good step you are taking to secure your crypto, especially if they are many, but you should let the EU fully come with their regulations before knowing what to do. There are regulations that will not even stress you at all, but they might want to look for more ways to tax you guys.

Just wait for it before planning your way around it.

The P2P is the most suggested method in this regard, so it is not new. Yet, I appreciate the business aspect, and I have been looking into it. My main issue for this topic wasn't for small money, but for big money and how I would not get trapped in the web of this government palaver. I will discuss opinions with those in that situation in my country. Thanks!

If your country  are strictly against people who use bitcoin for business you have to be careful and not to make bitcoin bitcoin public the way you spend it. Just get a p2p exchange where you can do your buying and selling.  If you must use bitcoin in business let it be with people who use bitcoin so that you won't fall victim to your government.

This doesn’t really fall under the country where bitcoin is banned type situation, since bitcoin is not banned in the EU. Regulation falls on a per country basis, but is building-up to have a common set of rules there. To be brief:

-   I figure you are talking about buying bitcoin from within from Ledger Live, which really hooks you up to a KYC service provider (MoonPay, Coinify, BTC Direct). You can use them, or any other Exchange service (the fact that some are included in Ledger Live is to facilitate things, but there may be better options).

-   Not sure what you mean by "go after payments". In the EU bitcoin is not banned, so there is no going after you in that sense(*). There is the "going after you" from a tax perspective, which is different per country. Generally speaking, buying BTC and holding it will not render tax payments, but the specifics need to be seen in relation to your specific country.

If you want to get more specific, it would be best if you open a new thread and formulate all the questions you want there iteratively (due to your context being of a different nature than that treated on this thread).

(*) Some banks do have issues with payments to/from certain Exchanges for some people. That is something again to look into in relation to your specific country, although not something trivial to determine (it’s not generally only an issue related to the pair , but also to the person himself).

With the EU trying to regulate crypto at this point.. Can they go after payments to a Ledger device?
Transactions from my local bank to the device. I consider using paypal for this. I'm also not planning on withdrawing crypto profit back to the bank. It is a long term investment.

At my local bank, there is staff approving or denying any transaction we make. I have purchased a Ledger nano x but I have not deposited money on it yet.
I'm reading into that now, and also about how to secure my account the best I can. I am planning on never typing the seed phrase on my laptop, so that malware (which I have a virus scanner for) can never find my seed phrase with a key logger.

It's pretty challenging for a tech noob to invest in crypto in a completely safe way. As my assets grow, I consider buying a laptop just for crypto so it is not prone to getting hacked.

Not transacting with a big amount is a very good plus, with this, they can't detect you as long as you are using P2P. However, I don't need to use VPN in my case, because they don't have access to the database of Binance, which is the exchange I use and they have not totally banned the holding of crypto in my country, so I can own it.

What baffles me is the extent to which you go always deleting your account details. To me, I believe it is unnecessary because they cannot locate your details from your exchanges. Never! These exchanges are also aware of the government's problems and antics.

This is painful, I have not experienced what you are talking about but it is quite possible. You should have reported to your exchange with proof, I am sure they would help by contacting the person. Else, they would not let such individuals use their service again. The fault was from your bank or the person's bank, they reversed the payment for the transaction that has been executed.

I know these payment gateways, but they are not decentralized as you think. I would even prefer to go for Skrill or Perfectmoney if I want to use such services. Only that I will need to part ways with some higher charges.

It was p2p exchange, it's just that — buyer credited the money >> I confirmed I received the money (so BTC was released to him through exchange) >> few days after buyer chargebacked the amount.

I didn't go to police out of fear that crypto is banned and they won't help me.

Well said, I would advise that P2P is one of the greatest advantage you all have and so you should stick with it.
Despite this ban I also read that Nigerians are one of the core country that interact with Crypto currency showing that this is of more help to the society and alot people have made fortunes from it and so there's no cause to stop. It's also very shameful that the government has caused more harm than good with this act.

One thing about peer to peer trading is that you need to be sure of who you are trading with if you are doing it physically probably using friend of friends or someone you contacted online. I will always advice people to use an exchange to run there p2e trading since it cam be challenging to see someone you can sell your Bitcoin to with since trust.

Centralized Exchanges have strict rules that will be enforced if during a p2e trade, the buyer do not credit the seller which can end up on blocking of the account. It is very challenging trading coins in a country where Bitcoin is ban and users finding other alternatives can be very challenging.

I think the best way to transact BTC in a country that prohibited its transaction is to avoid using any p2p that requires any submission of IDs that tells your location. While Binance is independent, avoid transacting in large amounts that would cause some doubts on your local bank. In addition, avoid any purchase that would alert the government- in other words, anything that the government is affiliated with, avoid them.

For added protection, you may also use VPNs or IP proxies whenever you make and create transactions. While your government may prohibit its transactions, this is what BTC was made for- financial freedom in your transactions.

I'm interested in this because I heard a friend mention these digital accounts Neteller and Payoneer, but I don't know anything about them, so I assumed it was like other decentralized exchanges because it might require KYC before having full access to operate the accounts.
As a result, I would appreciate more information about these two digital accounts.

Yes My country is also one of them.
Let me tell you what I do to avoid any future problem.

Mostly I use Binance's P2P Platform to buy or sell my crypto assets.
These are some precautions which I always follow.

1. When I suppose to trade on P2P Platform. I use my bank account details. And I use account for sudden trade and after the trade I remove my bank account details as soon as possible.

2. I do not make biggest trade. I only made little amount trades. Because when I trade in big amount the government institutions will detect and can catch anytime.
So made little trades and stay safe.

3. I never forget to use VPN.

These some precautions can safe us from biggest problems.

Not advocating for lawlessness, but perhaps you were affected by a decree and were not given ample time to do what you needed to do.  One idea is to use or set up a VPN service to "hide" your location since it can connect you to another country, giving the appearance you are there while not actually being in that country physically.