Looks like Russia is going to ban Bitcoin for good, after all. The new bill proposed by Ministry of Finance doesnt mention it by name, but defines surrogate money in an extremely broad way that basically covers any not officially emitted monetary units or other entities that are used as payment methods to facilitate trade or exchange, including those electronically emitted. BTC is mentioned by name in the commentary to the law, and the intent to ban it specifically is clear from that. What theyre banning, specifically, is performing operations (i.e. paying with it or receiving it), emission (i.e. mining), distribution of software facilitating both, and even distribution of information that enables emission and/or operations with surrogate currency. The consequences so far are only fines, on the order of $1k for individuals, and up to $25k for businesses.
Posted on: Sun, 05 Oct 2014 02:02:57 +0000