Russian Bitcoin Crime

It has been coming for a while and eventually, Russia has decided to place its position on Bitcoin and cryptocurrency by showcasing a trial of three businessmen on charges of money laundering. They were arrested for illegally trading approx $9 million of BTC into Russian Rubles. Although Bitcoin is legal in Russia it is illegal to exchange for Rubles and in the past sites offering this facility have been blocked.

Bitcoin Crime Russia

Since the fall of communism, Russia has always had a problem with money laundering but realize that Bitcoin is here to stay and wish to regulate it and other cryptocurrencies before it gets out of hand. There is a theme running through the world’s major economies where they all realize the value of cryptocurrencies but all feel that without regulation it challenges their control and banking stability. In some ways this is true but the problem is that if they all adopt a different approach than regulations can only fragment.

It is obvious what the businessmen were doing having numerous family bank cards and holding so much money, they will no doubt be found guilty and their monies confiscated but the trial will be interesting in that we may see where Russia wants to go in relation to crypto currencies and like China it will not be surprising if they want to start their own which would be state regulated and perhaps bring others under the state umbrella.

Trading bitcoin — or any digital currency — for rubles is not legal yet in Russia. Three businessmen just found out the hard way. Last week, Russian police arrested three businessmen for illegally trading in 500 million rubles worth of bitcoin, or around $9 million worth of the […]

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