Putin Signs Ban On Crypto Payments In Russia - Slashdot

Putin Signs Ban On Crypto Payments In Russia

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• 2 hidden comments

• • Re:

    Wrong take. Looks more like Putin wants to start putting the screws to people who are dumping the Ruble on crypto without banning it outright (yet).

    • Re: The sanctions are so good, even Putin likes th

      The smart ones will use Monero

      Fun fact: there are dozens of dozens of Monero nodes on Tor [slashdot.org]. Good luck to the FSB FBI MI6 Interpol agents trying to take down the network. You will not be able to.

    • Re:

      The ruble is at its highest value since 2015, it doesn't look like there are big sells going on.

      • 2 hidden comments

  • Re:

    Actually Russia's oil sales to its handful of takers are being highly discounted and are nowhere close to market prices.
    
    https://fortune.com/2022/05/20... [fortune.com]

    • 1 hidden comment

    • Re: The sanctions are so good, even Putin likes th

      Actually those takers are keeping from oil prices going higher... if they wouldn't get oil from Russia they would have to get it somewhere else

    • • Re:

        Part of that is because India is buying a lot of Russian oil, marking it up, and reselling it to NATO countries.

• by SeaFox ( 739806 ) on Saturday July 16, 2022 @03:30PM (#62708418)

  So people are forced to use the normal Russian currency (the Ruble) to help prop up his country's economy so the population doesn't revolt.

• by Powercntrl ( 458442 ) on Saturday July 16, 2022 @03:40PM (#62708434)

  Seriously though, can someone explain to me why Putin would do this?

  It will probably be enforced selectively. This is Russia we're talking about after all.

  • Re:Hooray? [For what or whom?]

    Mod parent up. My first thought was "You may safely wager that this ban does not apply to Putin himself."

    But I keep looking at Putin's actions to see which ones might be evidence of desperation. From that perspective, the people focusing on the enforced value of the Ruble are approaching it from the correct perspective, though that just gave me another thought on the story. Selective enforcement of this new ban also gives Putin more power over his own allies who are hiding some of their dark and dirty money

    • Re:

      Politicians exempting themselves from their own laws is a worldwide national past-time. My favorite are the ones that surround themselves with armed guards and argue about gun control.

      • Re:

        Why is that your favorite? Most people who argue for gun control aren't arguing for a complete ban on guns. Are you even listening to them, or just substituting a straw man you can more easily knock down because you don't want there to be a risk that someone you don't like has said something reasonable?

        It's even more of a stupid "Gotcha!!!1!!" when you consider the fact people who advocate for gun control, even those who argue for a complete ban on guns (ie virtually nobody), live in a society in which g

        • Re:

          Because it's a common wedge issue stateside and eloquently highlights the 'rules for thee but not for me'. I think for me I think it's the visual element. That you can often see an armed guard or two on camera standing behind a politician that's explaining that nobody needs guns to defend themselves. Great satire.

          It seems to vary a lot based on the country/region/culture. There are countries with strict gun control that are idealistic and peaceful (Japan) as well as countries with strict gun control t

          • 1 hidden comment

    • Re:

      Not sure what you're saying here. Putin didn't ban crypto, just using it as payment. If he exempts only himself, you are saying he will be paying himself with crypto? He will not be able to pay anyone else who is not exempt. A payment method only very few can use/take is worthless.

• by Pentium100 ( 1240090 ) on Saturday July 16, 2022 @04:06PM (#62708472)

  To keep the fake exchange rate of the ruble up.

  This is not the first time. For example, in the USSR, the official exchange rate was something like 1 ruble = 0.5 - 2USD (it went up over time). However, there was lo legal way for citizens to exchange rubles for dollars. This exchange rate only applied tor people returning to the USSR from abroad.
  However, there was a black market where 1USD was something like 10-20 rubles.

  This is being done in Russia right now. Citizens cannot sell rubles and get other currencies, all companies getting paid in foreign currencies have to convert 80% of that to rubles. The result of that is an artificially high exchange rate (1USD = 54rubles), even though people pay something like 100-200rubles for 1 USD in the black market.

  People used dollars to pay each other, especially in the black market, they probably do so now as well, but also use cryptocurrencies for that (crypto probably has more value and is more stable than the ruble). Putin wants to stop this, since the law is specifically banning the use of crypto for payments (I assume you can still buy and sell it). I guess this means a lot of people are doing it (and will continue doing it)

  • Re:

    This was really helpful, thanks. I remember some other related nonsense in a different country back in 1997.

    This is the first time I've heard of anything's stability being compared unfavorably to crypto.

    • Re:

      Yeah, it felt weird to write it too. But yeah, if you think that the national currency of your country is being propped up from reserves and the economy is heading toward collapse, crypto beings to look like a good store of value (and is probably easier to get than dollars and such, because crypto is digital and someone needs to smuggle the foreign cash in)

    • Bank runs and currency

      This isn't uncommon. One of the goals of functional states is to make sure the currency is stable, and banks don't run out of deposits.
      But what do happen if the state isn't functional? Currency might be pegged to trade or a resource, but if management of that resources fails, you risk extreme inflation or hyper inflation for the current possessors of the currency. Not to mention the possibility of bank runs. And the USD Is pegged to trading globally, while the RUB is for trading with Russia basically.
      Now...