This is, to date, probably the most extreme measure a country has taken against crypto: simply banning private use of it. It acknowledges the decentralized nature of the network, and then warns the public and businesses not to use it.
According to the regulator, the action was taken in response to a sector assessment by the National Committee for Combating Money Laundering and Financing of Terrorism and is intended to comply with the Financial Action Task Force’s (FATF) global recommendations for crypto assets.
China did something similar in stages:
If the crypto world doesn’t get its act together and build useful products (like Intercoin and Intercloud), this might be the reaction of other governments, especially as they roll out CBDCs. This will be their centralized, managed world and we’ll all be living in it.
The question remains, of how they plan to enforce it. Will they fine the public for using crypto?
This just in: Russia joins Kuwait and China in banning crypto payments throughout the country.
It’s not clear whether this prohibits people paying businesses which are not in the country, or how it will be enforced. Crypto is global, while smart contracts can help introduce transparency and confidence in how the money will be used.
Also, it seems that people can still receive crypto payments from businesses outside the country, and then trade these digital assets for the local currency, which they can then use in payment. Crypto hasn’t been banned as an asset class, simply as a means of payment inside the country.
As we’ve been long saying, if the crypto world doesn’t get its act together, then the governments will start banning it as a means of payment, in order to sweep away the biggest competitor to their CBDCs, which they are planning to roll out by 2025. Russia, for example, plans to do it by 2025. China has already been doing it.
CBDCs will centralize control in government hands far more than ever before, in more ways than one. Even more than before, it will be their world, and we’ll just live in it.