The big news of today is how Russia wants to prevent Bitcoin growth once again. More specifically, one government official claims the new plan is to restrict access to all exchanges. This will be done in the same manner Russia prevents people from accessing other websites. Although nothing has been set in stone yet, the timing of this news is remarkable. The Bitcoin price is close to a new all-time high and new opposition is becoming apparent.
We all know Russia has a love-hate relationship with cryptocurrency since day one. For a communist country, cryptocurrencies pose a legitimate threat. Moreover, the government doesn’t take kindly to giving consumers much financial freedom. Cryptocurrencies do exactly that, which means access must be restricted. The current plan involves restricting access to websites by the national watchdog.
Another Strange Decision by Russia
It is not the first time Russia takes such odd measures. The country saw access to several news outlets blocked a few years ago. That blockade was eventually overturned by a local court, though. It is possible the same will happen to this new “ban” on Bitcoin exchanges. No one knows for sure what the future will hold or how things will evolve. Right now, there is a lot of speculation going on, which is only to be expected.
First Deputy Chairman Sergey Shvetsov states the following:
“We consider all cryptocurrency derivatives to be a negative development on the Russian market and do not consider it possible to support it, and will even assume measures to restrict potential operations with such instruments made by the regulated part of the Russian market. Meanwhile, we assume efforts aimed at closing external websites that allow Russian citizens to acquire such assets together with the General Prosecutor’s Office.”
For the time being, it remains to be seen how things will play out. Russian regulators are concerned over the growth of Bitcoin, for obvious reasons. More specifically, Bitcoin has become a valuable tool. As one would expect, there are allegations regarding the “pyramid structure” of Bitcoin. This ignorance of cryptocurrencies needs to be sorted out sooner or later. Otherwise, no official will ever grasp the true nature of Bitcoin. It is possible this is mainly due to the willingness to be ignorant more than anything else, though.
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