Topic: Russia legalizing Bitcoin and cryptos but not allowed as payment method? (Read 945 times)

Good point! the chance that bitcoin might be more use than regular fiat is still in debate from those countries who
legalized this cryptocurrency / asset.

They are considering possibilities and the fact that they've given this rules, the better chances that it will soon be accepted as how it should be in the first place.

We have to honor their take for now and wait for more updates to this decisions.

Not all countries that legalize Bitcoin, mean that they will accept Bitcoin as payment. So what Russia is doing is also being done
several other countries. This is only natural, because the government is afraid Bitcoin will be more popular than fiat and replace fiat.
So usually countries that legalize Bitcoin, only accept Bitcoin as a digital asset.

I never take anything I read seriously unless it sounds like it makes sense and I can see it coming from different sources and people and then I like to see the counter-argument if there is one. You must look at it from all angles before you decide. They should allow crowdfunding and ICO. Is it our fault investors are too greedy and stupid to see a scam? You can only blame scammers up to a certain point. Not allowing crypto as a payment method just isn't going to work. How will they even enforce such a ridiculous law? I am very sure law enforcement has better things to do like look after the people from criminals and theft. It's not like the law hsa infinite time to just sit around. Their time is limited and wasting it on this sort of thing is counter productive. Would you rather your goverment focus on murder, theft abuse etc or they rather they messing around running after pointless crypto transactions?

"Maybe the Russian legislators think that the non-reversible cryptocurrency transactions provide a "scammer-friendly" environment"
What if it is the other way around?

Russia was at the beginnings of the list that includes the countries oppose Bitcoin. I am surprised to see that Russia decided to legalize Bitcoin. But it is interesting that Russia won't allow Bitcoin as a payment method. Maybe, the government thought that there could be a sharp increase in the number of people who start to prefer Bitcoin instead of ruble as a payment method.

Just like in my country Indonesia, the Government prohibits the sale and purchase of goods using Bitcoin. However, the government still allows cryptocurrency to fiat trading transactions. At least here, we can easily make crypto trading transactions without any special rules. And after I researched it, interest in cryptocurrency in our country increased rapidly after the government put it on lockdown due to the Covid-19 disease.

The easiest way is to prohibit everything new. This is done in all states where the rights of citizens are not respected. Russia, unfortunately, belongs to such states. Moreover, it is interesting that the Russian government does not deny the novelty and advantages of cryptocurrency in relation to conventional currency. It helps other states implement their digitized currencies, such as Venezuela. However, they decided to ban their use for their citizens.
Civilized states fight against money laundering and other abuses using cryptocurrency by regulating their circulation, rather than completely banning them.

So Russia is accepting bitcoin but not as payment method but as a trading asset.
On top of that we don't know how Russia will tax the crypto earnings from trading.
Bitcoin is becoming more of a speculative asset than what it is meant for i.e a payment method.
If all the countries start treating bitcoin as an asset and don't accept it as a payment method then I am afraid Satoshi's vision will be vanished.

This is also the way how I understood the news regarding the "legalization" of cryptos in russia. If this is what is really meant, then this won't be unlikely of other countrie wherein it is neutral in a way that people are free to invest into cryptos but local stores and services do not acknowledge it as a mode of payment unless the company says so. This is not a bad thing indeed, but is a good start. Chances are, eventually, adaptation will be observed wherein more companies will acknowledge cryptos as a digital currency.

We cannot also blame those governments who are atill not fully giving their trusts in this industry because that is their policy and tbey are having studied basis which is morelikely in accordance with avoiding the risk for people. Cryptos are having inconsistent market price which gives risk from investing into it. Using it as a mode of payment depends on the private companies, in countries wherein it is "neutral".

Russian lawmakers have passed a bill that gives legal status to cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin – but bans them from being used to pay for goods and services. The new law recognizes digital assets “as an aggregate of electronic data capable of being accepted as the payment means but cannot be used at the same time to pay for any goods and services.”

Maybe Yes or maybe there are reasons that they are seeing into why they made this decision.

We don't know what the real reason behind  this ruling and how they get this resolutions,
legalizing it but not to allow it as payment method.

Very possible that they are avoiding people to use this cryptocurrency for payment
to avoid confusions as the value of bitcoin is volatile and those merchants owners
who are not fully aware might lose their money in case the value falls deeply.

It is a good news already as they didn't banned bitcoin or crypto currencies in their country. And once they cannot find any problems with their decision then there is a
big chance that in the future, they will likely to allow bitcoin and cryptos as one of their payment methods.

The same with crowdfunding, ICOs, IEOs and etc. so let's just hope that they will not encounter any severe problems in bitcoin or cryptos that will force them to banned or prohibit
the usage of bitcoin and cryptos in their country.

And maybe they aren't still allowed bitcoin as a mode of payment because the population of the those people who uses bitcoin are lesser than those who do not know bitcoin itself or how does it works. And we all know that the bitcoin are still a lot of features to improve and there are still advantages that the fiat can do but the bitcoin can't do.

they will inevitably allow crypto as payment when most of the world does so.  They can only hold out so long.

I see this as a perfectly normal step of one Government. You need to have legal background to fight against fraudulent activities and money laundering, while on the other side, you cannot allow these asset to interfere into your monetary system without control.

Only time will tell what will be the next chapter of this rules.

With lots of things to address the government will be concern with much important things,
Just like what you have said this topic will be discuss behind the scene.

Putin is aging, he is gradually losing popularity in his country and it will be more and more difficult for him to stay in power. Due to the need to solve many more important problems, the issue of strict regulation of cryptocurrency will gradually recede into the background.
If the attitude of other states to cryptocurrency is positive, then over time it will inevitably change for the better on the part of the Russian authorities. However, this is a matter of time and time.

Actually, it's exactly the opposite. It's way easier to control Bitcoin's price than anything else. They'll know how to live with Bitcoin their way, not ours. And as authorities are heavily supporting control and the flawed system, I don't see it how that could go positive at all.

There will be resentment and i do not think that Putin will head to those and will go on with his actions as he literally controls the entire country but even with that i think he is a brilliant master mind and if they can survive with all the sanctions imposed upon them then he is doing something that is holding the country and about migrating if there is a law against bitcoin can be done only by millionaires and not for casual investors.

Hello to all. Yes, I remember the resentment that reigned among crypto enthusiasts before the law was passed. Many generally wanted to emigrate from the country. But, I believe, nothing terrible happened. There is a hope that the legislators in Russia are not as stupid as we imagine them to be. It seems all the same someone told them that it is not possible to prohibit the cryptocurrency. Of course, there are still some suspicions that when the final package of laws is adopted there will be some kind of "bomb" of delayed action, but in Russia there have always been craftsmen to bypass idiotic laws. All the same, over time, a new, more advanced generation of legislators will come, who will understand that there is a future in the cryptoindustry. At least I really hope so

You can't blame them, they have a huge populace and they are just being careful to the decision that they will finalize. Remember that cryptocurrency attracts all kinds of people and we all know that not all of them have a good intention, I actually envy their country because atleast they care about the status of the cryptocurrency in their state unlike many other third world where most politicians are corrupt that they forgot to do their job. In my country, cryptocurrency is still in the gray area of things albeit many people are using it, it is still not enough for the government to notice.

Although they can not control bitcoin, they should see the other benefits of bitcoin, which can give their people to have another source to make money. I think the government can still control bitcoin by releasing the regulations for the banks, the exchanges, and the store, but still, they can not control the bitcoin price. Maybe right now, they will have another problem, but in the future, after they can know how to live with bitcoin, they will handle everything, including using bitcoin as the payment system.

Why exactly would/should a government see Bitcoin as a solution to "the problem in the payment system"? To them, BTC is something mostly out of control and they don't like stuff they cannot control. Especially Russia. The benefits of using digital currencies will switch so smoothly from decentralized cryptos such as BTC to their digital fiat you won't even notice. That's going to happen "later", but at a pace slowed down enough for most not to give a damn anymore - and probably before the world will have a stable law structure for cryptocurrencies..

Almost every government wanted to act in such a way once they understand cryptos are unstoppable.They are really interested in the revenue from crypto space because now the market is turning into huge compared to the past so why not they try to regulate it and making taxes from the profits made.

If this news is true then the primary aim of cryptocurrency is not been reach, Bitcoin was created to be a means of payment for goods and services, passing a bill that will legalize it in the country and won't permit it to be a means of payment is as good as not having it legalized at all. But will wait on the bill on the Digital Currency as supposed to be passed in time to come, perhaps they will permit payment with Bitcoin and other cyrpto

This is the first step towards the conscious use of crypto resources in Russia. As you know, everything is very good with cryptocurrency in Belarus now and it is absolutely legal. I hope Russia will follow the example of a brotherly country, as it has done for many years. As for the legal aspects of use, I believe that there will be several stages of introduction and at each stage the government will explain how the market situation is changing and how bitcoin affects the economy.

Where do you read this?
Any government will behave terance compared with those who are struggling with it. That's what any government does.

I do not think that the implementation of this idea will be a problem, but if bitcoin is allowed to be used as a means of payment, then you will be forced to open a Bank account, pass the CUS procedure, or pay through payment aggregators, which will oblige you to pass the CUS procedure. And then you tell me, what's the difference? No state will allow anonymous payments. Currently, anonymous payments in the amount of no more than 15,000 rubles (approximately $204) are allowed in Russia

Well the Russian government might probably plan to establish a government owned third party BTC to Fiat platform to take advantage of the profit of the said platform.  Legalizing Bitcoin will cater their citizen to dive into the Bitcoin market and the prohibition of Bitcoin as mode of payment will render their platform to flourish.  And the possible way of knowing the citizen that utilizes Bitcoin since for sure KYC is required on that platform.

I am sure the government will see the potential of cryptocurrency, and it's only a matter of time for the government to apply crypto as a payment system in their country. By using crypto, they will have a new option for using cashless than only use credit/debit cards, and their people will also have a way to invest in crypto. If that can happen, we will see people from that country adopt it, and the number of people who use crypto in that country will increase.

It is just for now that was to be the set up well then at least the Russian government have extended their understanding about the importance of adapting Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies making it legal to their country. It is already a big step to be done by a country and a wish come true for the people who wanted to get engage on using cryptocurrencies but are being afraid and hesitant because of the legalization issue. But since Russia have make it a point to legalize Bitcoin and crypto currency in their country, for sure many people will now be encouraged to get engaged even it is still not allowed for payment method.

Just a step by step process while the government is still assessing the pros and cons of using it as payment method. The legalization is a big step towards full adaption of Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies so right now it is a good news to get contented with.

Boy, are you 15 years old or what? What kind of foolish maximalism, not supported by anything other than the propaganda of your country? No "if." The bill has been passed, and this is a fact. I am telling you as a Russian citizen.

At first, I took this news negatively, but then I saw a couple of advantages. First, BTC is recognized as a legal asset like platinum or gold. He now has official status. Secondly, legalizing BTC as an asset can only be the first step towards its full adoption. There are quite conservative people in the government, so they still need time to understand everything and figure out how to proceed.

I think the main point is they are now allowing the use of the bitcoin which is a good thing they make all of the process easier and less hassle to make transactions or transferring the funds and they don't want right now is using the cryptocurrency as the payment method we all know today this is one of the best things may happen but the problem is about the identity of the user who wants to play with the use of it we all know that we can use now the bitcoin mixers if you want to get your identity hidden to the transactions and they want to avoid this they want to make more transparent so there is nothing suspicious in terms of payment method.



I hope they see the potential of this immediately and this is one of the most adopting they ever do into the life of crypto still we are looking forward that there is a lot of countries will adopt this kind of payment so more on cashless we have right now. But still, we cannot remove the fiat currency because this is part of the trade of currencies.

Is this news really legit because i tried Google Searching it but i keep seeing things that looks like rumors because Russian government made announcement not too long ago that they won't be legalizing cryptocurrency. If at all the news is true, it is a success for the entire crypto community as the Russians will surely adds to overall crypto marketcap. About the section that says bitcoin can not be used for payment, i think that's russian government trying to protect it's citizens from the people that uses bitcoin for evil deads... I see a bright future here, a step at a time

I think it is no problem if Russia legalizes bitcoin and crypto because that can be a way to see the crypto used as the payment method. And if they don't allow crypto to be used for the payment method, they will allow it in the future because they will see the potential from the crypto that can solve the problem in the payment system. Besides that, we need to give them time to realize the benefit of the crypto as the payment system, so they know by themselves. Sooner or later, the government will allow their people to used crypto for the payment method.

Russian government only allows cryptocurrencies as a source of profit or mainly as a store of value, that's why they only allow trading than use it in many transactions.

As a payment method? No way. They will not use crytocurrency as a payment method because they know that it will really affect their economy and other businesses due to volatility of most of the coins. The authority allows the community to access cryptocurrency but it really have some limit and restrictions.


According to the source, Russian government do not allow bitcoin as a payment method so it is less likely to become adopted in that kind of activities. People will only use it as their assets in their investments but not making it as a tool for payment transactions. They are not even close to full bitcoin adoption as they are still unable to do other features of transactions using crypto. Hoping that Russian government allow its people to use cryptocurrency freely.

Big possibilities that there's power behind this act and for sure it's always for benefits that this government are trying to take this call.

Assuming that they are now accepting the use of bitcoin but there's no guarantee that they won't change it at any given time, knowing the nature of
this nation where change is inevitable.

Best thing to do is to keep the flow and play with how you understand this news, traders always looking for possibilities.

Very close with bitcoin become legal payment currency transaction in Russia, I think is near how people can use bitcoin and altcoin become payment currency there because after legal using as investment assets will have new way for Russia make bitcoin legal as payment way. Just waiting several month later we can see Russian is the first europe country legal using bitcoin and altcoin.

Even if this news is true, I would expect further pressure on crypto later on. Russian gov is too tyrannical and corrupt to let such thing as crypto exist without choking it

You're not exactly right.
Legalization means it is recognized by law. You can own it, report gains, trade it and report it as stolen to the police. It doesn't mean you can pay wit it in a store.
Russians have laws protecting their currency and I believe it's in their constitution that the Rubble can be the only legal tender. Their constitution isn't untouchable as Putin managed to prove over and over but for now there's no strong support behind cryptocurrency so they won't change the existing laws.

It is very difficult to discuss the laws of a country in which you do not live. Initially in Russia there were many negative projects at the legislative level. There have been proposals to completely ban cryptocurrencies and to criminalize their use.
Over the past 3 years, a powerful shadow market has emerged in Russia. Ego participants did not even break the laws, because there were no laws Cryptocurrency is not taxed in Russia, if a citizen received income after exchanging for fiat, he must pay tax.

View cash exchange limits in Russia
74,4 rubles = 1 dollar
https://www.bestchange.ru/bitcoin-to-ruble-cash.html

They understood the fact that even if they ban the entire cryptocurrency market people will overcome the ban and it is better to have some sort of control by the government and they can identify this as a alternative option during the trade wars.

Even the US was not sure how to handle the cryptocurrency market and that is the case with many government around the globe and it is a good concept that many of the countries could accept, not allowing them as a legal currency but an investment option that can be traded in legal exchanges.

 It will be and should be completely regulated and then we can get rid of the scammers.

How are they going to conttrol Bitcoin? If a person sends sats from one wallet to another one, how will the government investigate it?

this is what is expected of a country where the president has been on power for years and his people are watching this horrible movie and they do nothing to change it. What I don't understand is because in the article it says something like:

"Russian Lawmakers Finally Pass Country’s Major Crypto Bill"

expected a different result from russia?

Duma is dominated by United Russia who also dominate everything, I ask again: did they expect different?

http://www.consultant.ru/cons/cgi/online.cgi?req=doc&base=PRJ&n=197492#012803141487968284
http://publication.pravo.gov.ru/Document/View/0001202007310056?index=106&rangeSize=1
The Federal law was signed and will take effect on January 1, 2021.

Cryptocurrencies are prohibited as a means of payment, but this does not prevent them from being exchanged for rubles and other currencies. The dollar is also prohibited in Russia as a means of payment and it is forbidden to specify prices in dollars, but many payments are made in dollars.

I think there will be many more amendments to be adopted regarding miners and individuals.

But experts say that the procedure for issuing tokens is very complicated and incomprehensible, it is much easier to work in those jurisdictions, where the practice and legislation have already been formed.

Fomer USSR power house at it again. Today they speak of ban, tomorrow it's debuked and this time they are bullishly pro bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Some politicians are just playing some game and nothing more. All is fine as regrads cryptocurrency in Russia.

Their government must have considered this fact, a week ago I've read a news that russian hackers are trying to steal the documents of corona vaccine development, just yesterday Europe sanctioned Chinese and Russian hackers for cyberattacks which the Russia denied ( we don't really know ) and I think the russian government knows all about this potential fatality with the crypto on their country once being promoted as payment method, you can trade but you can't pay using it. Quite fair enough for me tho.

Nations have their own understanding on crypto and its technology, they are not reliant on those big country they re just studying it, if they want it they will have it.

On July 24, 2020, Russia's Duma (parliament) finally passed the new "Financial Assets Law". The law overrides the criminalization related to crypto assets, which is expected by some industry observers, gives legal status to crypto assets, but prohibits their use as a means of payment.

Did they really legalize bitcoin? I think it's just words and nothing more.

Cryptocurrencies are simply now legally described, and Russian citizens can only own and use them only in those external jurisdictions where this is legally allowed. In Russia itself, no turnover of cryptocurrencies under this law is permissible: it is forbidden to create, sell, pay, create crypto-exchanges, etc. Now cryptocurrencies are de facto considered by the Russian authorities to be monetary surrogates that are prohibited from circulation. You can just own.

Russia with a large number of hackers fear for the cryptocurrency usage. This is just a thought of mine, years back itself Russian government endorsed the blockchain technology and suggested using it into the financial system. For some reason they ignored the usage of cryptocurrencies, now it is time to accept.

The delay will cause other small nations to be above them in terms of technology adoption. This is the stand India too took, it provided the usage access for bitcoin and ignored it as a payment source.

It is okay that they have at least accepted and legalize Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies so that people residing in Russia can now freely make use of having Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies on their possession. It is just that they can't directly make use of it as a payment method. It is more likely the same thing here in our country but the difference is that we are not classified that our government have already legalized usage of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. It is just that they are making us free to use it on our own risk and they have clarified that they do not really up into supporting cryptocurrency usage and do not encourage people to get engage into it.

We have wallet where we can accept and make use of our cryptocurrencies but it still rely on our national currency so if ever we want to make use of it, we still do have to convert it before we can use it digitally or withdraw it as a physical money.

The action done by Russia is already a good indication of allowing cryptocurrencies in their country. Maybe it is just that they are still observing and making thorough research about it before they allow to use it as a payment method. Well at least for now they have done the first step which is legalization, it will just take time maybe for them to totally allow all transactions to be done using cryptocurrencies.

This premise would've been possible if Russian government actually cared about its citizens a bit. But literally everything they do is made to support corruption without interference

It could be a step to limit fraudulent activities with cryptocurrencies. With bitcoin and crypto available for trading, it will help their people to grow personally without transferring their funds to anyone thus, restricting people to be tempted to scam other by transferring to random wallet address they own. Or maybe, one of the reason why they allow this is because they own a portion of mining facilities that couldn't just shutted down just because they don't want bitcoin.

If it does i think this is good news for crypto lovers and i think gradually they will open all sections of cryptocurrency as US bank make custody BTC service. I think like US govt, worlds all best economic countries will gradually accept this as they realize the acceptance of digital currency in this pandemic situation. On the other hand there is also a pressure from crypto users to government. So finally i will say we are in little far from globally acceptance of crypto.

thanks.

There is one thing to keep in mind :

The Russian Government understood the fact that Bitcoins is going to stay here for a long time and if they keep doing this , ignoring the existence and banning it for the long run , at the end of the day they will be two steps backward from everyone else.

Therefore they legalised the cryptocurrencies. First they weren't even sure about legalizing it , give them time. Given the right opportunities I do think soon enough the people will privately try using Bitcoins as a payment and grow their business in the shadows and Government might display fine or even KYC .

It is a good news for the time being.

ICO's and startups needs a good platform this it's very essential that they try and think about the impact it will have on people , the opportunities they will get therefore let's wait and see how it turns out.

Let's see the timeline:

https://www.crypto-news-flash.com/russia-new-law-foresees-total-ban-of-bitcoin-and-cryptocurrencies/

https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-ministry-slams-bill-to-ban-crypto-easy-to-bypass-creates-black-market/

https://news.bitcoin.com/russia-law-criminalizes-buying-bitcoin-7-years-jail/

Russian way to legalize bitcoin seems very complicated to me to fully comprehend what it is all about, what goals they are trying to pursue, everything is obscured and the whole situation is uncertain. What is legalized bitcoin means to government if citizens cannot buy it legally with state money - ruble? More than that, it is not allowed to even talk about bitcoin on the widely known cryptocurrency forums such as Bitcointalk? I must remind you that this fotum is officially blocked by Roscomnadzor. Read this thread for more information, the situation has not changed since then https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/bitcointalk-has-been-blocked-in-russia-because-of-gambling-advertisement-5235546

Should this be considered adoption of bitcoin if bitcoin resources are constantly being blocked in Russia?

Russia is a country that often changes rules related to cryptocurrency, really disappointing Bitcoin and crypto is prohibited as a payment
method in Russia. This could be detrimental to the development of Bitcoin and cryptocurrency, which was Satoshi Nakamoto's initial goal
creating Bitcoin is indeed planned as an alternative payment from fiat currency. Now Russia has not allowed it, which is not profitable for
Bitcoin and cryptocurrency.

I guess they will end up like China, where Bitcoin is not allowed for payments and trading between fiat cash and cryptocurrency is not allowed. I wasn't expecting much anyway, because it will be too much to expect if we want Russia to have laws similar to Japan or South Korea regarding cryptocurrency. But then, if Bitcoin becomes 100% legal in Russia, then I hope that it will being much relief for the cryptocurrency users, who face a lot of uncertainty regarding the tax issues.

most probably never.
a lot of countries have already made their decisions a long time ago and banned ICOs and any other form of scams that may take place under a different name to disguise the fact that it is an ICO.
considering the fact that the main use case of ICOs is for illegal activities including scamming newbies, it is a reasonable move too.

Waiting step by step how bitcoin will got legalizing in some country, I think is enough for early step for bitcoin as legal although not for payment method, just waiting several months later will get positive respond from Russian government to make bitcoin not only legal as investing but could be legalizing as payment currency.

This is the same as in my country. Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are legal as the digital asset. But they are not legalized as the payment method. It means that every transaction that uses the crypto is still considered illegal and it breaks the rule. therefore, in my country, there is still no shop or eCommerce or service that pays with crypto.

I think it is not a problem. This is a good beginning that Btc has been legal. I think that it may need more time about the crypto to be accepted fully in every country. So, be patient for it and never think negatively about what the government does.

Every country will do what they believe it's best for their country and economy at the same time not left behind in what is term the technology of the future. Policies change, laws are repealed and new laws are made to reflect current happenings which is why I am not perturbed because it's a process to full adoption. Now is recognition and it's still a win from where crypto is coming from for the past ten years.

Its one of the stupidest things you could imagine, but I'm not surprised. Putin wants his own crypto...

Of course, this means that "possession" in theory isn't illegal, But people doing transactions would need to be more careful, and preferably cover their tracks pretty much the same way as if they banned it altogether.

Until all the old fools leave, the politicians will always find ways to make everyone's lives miserable. Removing the idea that the State can intervene the money at anytime, is fundamental to stop them outlawing the very thing that could save everything.

But as i have always said: Any country that bans Bitcoin, simply is banning wealth that goes around to their neighbors. Let Putin drown with his own unwanted coin while the wealth of bitcoin flows elsewhere.

Drugs? Laundering? 10 years and they are still using those silly arguments? As if their mafias didn't use their fiat money (Rubles or whatever its called).

I've read a few news feeds about Russia before, but I haven't found any. Most of them were misinformation and fake news. Russia legalizes bitcoin and cryptocurrencies but does not approve them as payment methods. This is because the Russian government does not want the people of their country to convert bitcoin and cryptocurrencies into Russian currency. But if the Russian government approves cryptocurrency, it will be good news for the country.

But it might be enough to achieve their aims. Forbidding its use as a payment medium won't deter a small number of people who were never going to be deterred regardless, but it is enough to turn off most of the population and that's what they'll want.

They need to pair it with stopping exchanges in Russia as well.

China has done the same and had they not done that it would be a much more powerful presence there.

That's true. Russian government considers Bitcoin as shadow economy payment method. They believe that Bitcoin is mostly used for buying drugs.

Their concern is same as every government. They want full control over the money in the nation. Taxes are one of the largest income for the government and going crypto may make it easier to hide a trade ever happen or ever got paid.
The reason they want crypto are also the same. The government don't want people and other nation what trades and payments they are doing nationally and internationally. It's also a tool to escape embargo on Russia.

The Russians can even use the crypto debit cards which are now pretty cheap if we compare them to the times when they were pretty new in the market and were a lot costly than now. Also, I recently saw a news in which it was stated that the Russian government is looking forward to building their own cryptocurrency, so maybe this can be the reason to why they aren't legalizing the payments with bitcoins locally as they want their cryptocurrency to be widely used in their country rather than encouraging people to use bitcoins for payment.  Once the Russian crypto will reach mass adaption in their country then they would most probably change the law and might allow the local bitcoin payments.

In fact, such a decision is very positive for Russia and there could not be a more favorable solution for cryptocurrency so far. The Russian Constitution says that the only means of payment in the country is the ruble. Therefore, it was even proposed to establish criminal liability for the use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment. Only in the second reading was the criminal and administrative liability for this excluded. In order to allow the use of cryptocurrency as a means of payment,   first need to change the Constitution of Russia, and now no one will go for it.

Perhaps it is because it is not a definitive project for the reason that cryptocurrencies will not be allowed in Russia as a payment method yet.

I also see that lawmakers are interested in the law allowing Russian companies to issue stablecoins tied to the price of the US dollar. One thing if it is true Russia wants to digitize currencies and it is an interest that is happening in several nations.

Which highlights that the traditional banking system is showing that it needs a restoration to provide an efficient service in finances and in the economy.

Sounds like a bunch of old people trying to legislate something they don't understand.

It is just like informing the country about cryptocurrencies.

If they don't allow it as a payment method, I guess they are wanting to introduce it as an asset, I guess that is why they are also letting their local to create cryptocurrencies. That is my opinion though.

I haven't read the entire bill but I don't think they are actually trying to prevent peer-to-peer transactions. Because how can they do it?

As far as my understanding is concerned, by not allowing it as a payment method they do not recognize it as a legal tender or as a money. And this is nothing strange. I mean, our country does not recognize Bitcoin as a legal tender either. Bitcoin is not a legal money here.

We are buying and selling Bitcoin, sending and receiving it, sometimes in and out of the country but not in fact as money. Bitcoin simply acts as sort of carrier of value.

Bleurgh.

They're so full of shit and have spouted so much shit it's barely worth paying any attention any more.

I guess this is a pragmatic choice for a dictatorship filled with suckling assholes lining their pockets but I'll believe it when I see it.

Good they made it legal (i mean they don't even know what to do with this. At least they finally came to a stance). Making it illegal to make payments using bitcoin is understandable to be honest. I mean, they will be forced to convert it into fiat currency. This way the government won't have any issue tracking the users (since fiat conversion will probably require some sort of ID) and will probably add new rules so that they can even tax those people who converts it.

Any reason why it should not be used as payment method?
Well, I think governments should really focus on making sure it is used as payment method in safe and right manner. This should be possible if Bitcoin is very safe to use.
By the way, no country controls Bitcoin alone. It does not have the name, symbols, signature etc of any particular country on it. It's a decentralized currency owned and controlled by people allover the world... more like how Gold, silver are "decentralized" .
It won't really be a good idea to tell people not to exchange gold or silver for goods and services especially as they aren't really owned by any particular country.
I think safe use of Bitcoin for payments should be the main focus.

Legalisation is different and accepting as one of payment is different. Because legalising is to monitor the flow of virtual currency in their through the taxation method. But we can't be sure it will be accurately match and all the people who inverse in crypto currency will pay the tax for the trading and investment of their money. Accepting as a payment is the last step of this process. Once the law made, the people who do business accepted it as a payment option.

They are technically telling you that they are not ready to get their currency holding a competition with any crypto especially when used as payment processor which also mean you will need to convert any crypto into fiat before spending. It is still OK than banning the coin. Maybe they are trying to safe business that might want to be accepting it as payment from losing part of their profit due to crypto market volatility.

I think this is just the first step. Perhaps the society in Russia is not ready for this yet, so the adoption will be gradual.

So far Indonesia has not given permission to bitcoin user to use it as a legal payment tool, but the government has given permission for bitcoin user to trade where bitcoin can now be traded legally on commodity exchange and every exchange operating in Indonesia must comply with government regulation . KYC become mandatory and I am very confident that the government in this way will benefit through taxes that must be paid by the bourse.

I think the same condition apply to Russia even though I am not sure what the real reason they are thinking. It is only speculated that they fear that if bitcoin is allowed as a means of payment, it will disrupt their countrys financial and economic system.

I've read about it on a Russian website after seeing this thread, and it seems that not only cryptos are not allowed to be used as payment, but there's also a ban on advertising of such payment option. And it seems that the bill recognizes cryptos as property (which is coincidentally similar to the recent crypto policies of China). Moreover, all crypto owners have to officially declare their cryptos (and pay taxes, I think). So I'd say it's not great news for crypto users in Russia, and even more so for people there who treat Bitcoin as money.

Better than completely banning it anyway. The article states the following though:


It looks like this is just the beginning of crypto regulation framework over there. While that may not be a green light for anything related to crypto, I would guess a ban is unlikely considering the way the bill sounds so far. According to a 2018 article mentioning the same bill, it is similar to what the USA's crypto regulation currently sounds like: KYC, defining cryptocurrencies and some requirements for crypto-related businesses.

While I don't agree with the KYC, looking at my own country it's much better when you have a framework to begin with instead of interpretable laws.

A great decision I will say. ICO and crowdfunding are just scams and nothing else. If you have real caliber of starting a crypto related business then go for a usual public offer on stock exchange. These ico makers will never go for it because there is increased accountability on their money in that case which they are just not willing to provide. Most of the ICOs I have seen lately have altogether converted their business models into something which they never said in the white paper so all on all these ICOs make no sense at all. Unless you want tons of get rich quick schemes. Moreover expressly no country would say that you could use bitcoin as payment method. Because this will pose some serious issues to their legal tenders. It's good that they have legalized trading as atleast traders could get advantage of Bitcoin's price moves.

Russia really hated Bitcoin, but somehow found out a value on to it. The reason why they put cryptocurrency in a gray zone for quite a long time.
During the 2nd reading of this bill, It was stated there that
the previous version of sanctions on the DFA bill has been shelved according to this article from this topic.

IMO, this major crypto bill in Russia doesn't remove Bitcoin in the gray zone, because they still prohibits p2p transactions. While at the same time it's a good thing that Russian can now trade legally.
Nevertheless, their decisions are constantly changing.

Really strange decision - if they are scared that Bitcoin will undermine ruble, why allow trading? If they are not scared, why ban payments? Russia yet again is being paranoid for no reason.
This decision makes me think that there will be very serious surveillance around their legal exchanges, and if I were in Russia, I would prefer to trade only on decentralized exchanges.

Like with the recent news from China, it's a net positive, but it's not huge. Still, would be nice if the "at least not banned" trend will continue.

I think there's no problem with that. If they don't want to use crypto as payment method, the crypto user can just convert his crypto to fiat. And then, just use that fiat for payment, right? So at least they are not banning the usage of bitcoin or crypto. Because that would be their disadvantage if they will totally ban it. Their citizens need this especially during this crisis.

Can't say it's surprising. They know they can't BAN the p2p trading as much as they'd like to, so smart move to legalize it so they can tax it anyway. They know that most people will be using it to trade anyway, and don't want the headache of having to regulate and mediate businesses that use crypto or as securities so happy to just regulated trading.

So if I understood it correctly, they are actually trying to prevent peer-to-peer transactions but allowing the possibility of profiting from trading and other crowd-funding types or something? I think what they are doing is making stores not accept Bitcoin to prevent complications with taxing and other financial related with their lawmakers or something. Maybe in the future, they would be able to make it legal to accept it in normal ways or in anything.

I'm just curious if they have a custodial wallet that covers every place there? Or is the "most" being used?

That just means that you won't be able to use bitcoin to pay directly on stores. While that's not good, I don't think it's like super bad either. As for now we're mostly stuck with selling bitcoin for fiat or using bitcoin debit cards(which should be allowed because you're not directly paying with bitcoin/crypto) in most countries anyway, so for now this isn't that much of a big deal.

I have been seeing this news since last 3 days in my Google news feed from various sources. It seems like Russian lawmakers are thoroughly confused on their actions on cryptocurrency in general. First they thought of banning it and now when they are realizing that it's beyond their control, they are trying to regularize it! But yes, I generally don't believe any news coming from a communist country where media doesn't have right to speak freely!

Regularizing cryptocurrency but not recognizing it as a payment method, makes little sense to me! Probably they want to map the group that is using cryptocurrency first and then wrack havoc on them to ban the cryptocurrency from the country. Communist countries can take such extreme measures to be honest and can go to any extent without looking at human rights. Extreme caution is advised!

If they prohibit the use of bitcoin as a payment method, then bitcoin users have to convert and trade it to fiat first for something that they have purchased. Russians will look to the positive news that the fact this bill is for the adoption of bitcoin for trading.

The last part of the news is about Russia's central bank being charged as the regulator for most crypto that will land on their country. That will be the other country's move if they adopt and regulate bitcoin.

It will be big news if it's finally a law.

Is crypto legal status in Russia really important? As i remember FSB said that they will never allow crypto as payment

I'm very cautious when it comes to cryptocurrency related news regarding Russia.Those news might be fake.
It this news is true,I get where they are going with not allowing crowdfunding and ICO.Most crypto crowdfunding projects and ICOs were scams,so banning such activities isn't a wrong move.
However,not allowing crypto payments for goods and services is kinda stupid.
Maybe the Russian legislators think that the non-reversible cryptocurrency transactions provide a "scammer-friendly" environment,where the customers will pay using crypto and get nothing in return.
Anyway,it would be nice,if cryptocurrencies get completely legalized in Russia.

Okay so months ago, we thought that they're all set to lay down the axe on Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies in Russia. But right now, lawmakers have passed a bill to legalize cryptocurrencies in their country.

However, there's one section of the bill states that Bitcoin cannot be used as payment method. They do legalize cryptocurrency trading though, but not sure when it comes to crowdfunding, ICOs, etc.

Source: https://cointelegraph.com/news/russian-lawmakers-finally-pass-countrys-major-crypto-bill

Any reactions so far guys?