Quote from: bustabitsboy on Today at 06:46:00 PM

Quote from: _act_ on March 08, 2022, 07:36:05 AM

The Russia's central bank wanted cryptocurrencies to be banned in its country but the Russian president, Vladimir Putin said bitcoin mining and other crypto mining will be beneficial for Russia. Some people at that time have been supectimg this could be a move by the Russia's president that he is planning to invade Ukraine which will result to sanctions, thinking cryptocurrencies would be a means to evade sanctions and make it economically less effective.

Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov demand crypto exchanges to freeze all Russian accounts so that the sanction can be effective, but most exchanges did not support this. I read few days ago that cryptocurrencies may not help in Russia sanction but FinCEN concluded that Russia can attempt to use cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions.

FinCEN Provides Financial Institutions with Red Flags on Potential Russian Sanctions Evasion Attempts

What is your take? What role can cryptocurrencies play in helping Russia sanctions evasion and to what extent can this be?

Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov would like to freeze all of Russia completely Grin

Russia can use mining. I think it's a matter of time. Russia may use crypto exchanges that do not comply with sanctions or do not have control systems. This is one of the well-known options for circumventing sanctions.

It will actually be more of a hindrance to the long term success of cryptocurrency if Russia started using it more in an attempt to bypass sanctions or earn new sources of revenue. It would slowly bring the attention of more politicians if they discovered it was supplying a source of revenue, or way for them to move around money outside of the traditional banking system which has them pretty cut off. Once those sirens start going it might very quickly lead to bans on wider usage, along with the guise of energy preservation, which would be extremely damaging for any current holders of cryptocurrency. Let's hope Putin continues to discourage it's use and mining.