Major crypto exchanges refuse to freeze all Russian user accounts

Absolutely true. Imagine being in Russia, ruble tanks to below one cent, all your banks have been cut out from the rest of the world but one thing they can't control is crypto. That's the whole point of its existence. It's decentralized, you can't get your money taken away by banks or some other bs. Banning people from using crypto would mean crypto is actually not what it was advertised to be and it would probably tank into oblivion.

If you're for crypto being regulated you're shooting yourself in the foot, it might serve you one day.
Not true. All it means is that the world is not ready for an unregulated currency. Which is true, they aren't responsible enough. The citizens of Russia elected Putin et al (and by the way many support his attack on Ukraine). They are no responsible enough to be unregulated.
 
I did say "usually" not always. If you scratch far enough below the surface of capitalism you find exploitation and greed.
According to the Bible (written many years before capitalism had a name); human exploitation and human greed is the foundation of all evil. So not much has changed, so I am not sure what your point is. We know what we are doing wrong but cannot seem to correct it, after 150,000 years since we got out of Africa; its that your point?
 
Explain why Bitcoin is over $44,000 USD? Crypto exists because of stuff like this... Anyone who thinks crypto is dead is fooling themselves.
If the Governments (that we elect and complain to) feel that crypto is a large enough problem, I.e. circumventing their sanctions in a meaningful way then indeed it will be destroyed (the will of the people cannot be held back for long.. Even the creator of the idea is now condemning the implementation; and these Exchanges are proving why he does so. A reg tag bunch of narcissists.
 
Well yeah it would. The whole point of crypto is that it is SUPPOSED to be a decentralized currency, if it can be controlled which country can use it then it is no different then a stock exchange, and the value will plummet.

Is locking russian citizen out of their holdings the "right thing"? Because that is one hell of a slippery slope. Canada just had some experience with this as well.

Sure, punish putin, punish the oligarchs that own most of the country, but the regular citizens? That's going too far.

I mean imagine if the whole world decided to freeze your bank account in new york because the US government bombed another 3 iraqi children.
At the least everyone in charge circa 2008 should have been drawn and quartered. The problem with all the financial systems is the people in charge taking advantage of other people, not just that it occured in a building called "bank"
The CITIZENS of Russia elected Putin, just like in Canada they are responsible for the actions of their elected officials. The citizens MUST be held to account for what they voted for. What don't people understand about democracy.
 
This is a really dumb line of reasoning. How are you going to punish Putin and his friends when most of their assets are hidden? You're basically saying that it's fine for a dictator to use their country's resources to inflict damage, but the whole country shouldn't be punished for it, only the dictator should be punished. So, using your logic, what incentive does Putin have to stop then? He knows they can't punish him personally and you're not going to punish his whole country, so he should stop why?
Punish them because they voted him in? Probably that's a better way - every country gets the Government they deserve. Putin is the son of Russia: let them be punished for bringing him to a position of power.
 
If the Governments (that we elect and complain to) feel that crypto is a large enough problem, I.e. circumventing their sanctions in a meaningful way then indeed it will be destroyed (the will of the people cannot be held back for long.. Even the creator of the idea is now condemning the implementation; and these Exchanges are proving why he does so. A reg tag bunch of narcissists.
First of all, Satoshi Nakamoto (the creator of Bitcoin) is almost certainly not a real person... and he or she never said anything about regretting Bitcoin's creation...

Second of all, if the "will of the people" was to get rid of Bitcoin.... it would be gone... but the will of the people has been quite clear - they want cryptocurrencies, and they are willing to spend a LOT of money on them - hence the current value of Bitcoin being over $43,000 USD today...

GOVERNMENTS - especially dictatorships - despise crypto as they can't control it... but don't confuse that with the will of the people!
 
Libertarian views says it all. The first crypto exchange that decided to cut off users based on what country they are in (with no legal requirement to do so), they will likely lose a lot of customers, with the thought "if they cut them off, when could they cut me off, denying me access to my own money?". (And another reminder, they DID freeze accounts of specifically named Russian individuals.) I'm not siding with the exchanges but the view they have right now is understandable.
 
The CITIZENS of Russia elected Putin, just like in Canada they are responsible for the actions of their elected officials. The citizens MUST be held to account for what they voted for. What don't people understand about democracy.
Democratic, fair elections in RUSSIA!? Since when? And in comparison to Canada!? Lmao... Sure, blame the poor suffering populace for the actions of their elite, makes sense d'oh!
 
Yeah, if you think Russia has free elections, please google Gary Kasparov. He competed in chess through the 1980s and 1990s and world chess champion for part of that. 1990s through 2000s he got involved in poltiics. A quote from wikipedia:

Speaking about Kasparov, former KGB defector Oleg Kalugin in 2007 remarked, "I do not talk in details – people who knew them are all dead now because they were vocal, they were open. I am quiet. There is only one man who is vocal and he may be in trouble: [former] world chess champion [Garry] Kasparov. He has been very outspoken in his attacks on Putin and I believe that he is probably next on the list."[108]

It was not subtle, like "accidents keep happening to members of the political party", rather he'd come in one day and find out some member of the political party had been shot, mid-day, walking across a bridge. I've read he pretty much knew he would have been killed for his political activities if he was not in public eye for being a former chess champion.
 
Crypto started as an anonymous payment method for weapons, drugs, and child porn on the dark web. Now it reached levels where it can support terrorism and dictator regimes as well. So there are zero surprises for me here.
 
While far from perfect, the banks are far better than crypto right now at controlling the number of "bad actors" using the money to support "bad for society" or criminal activity.
That's a possibility yes, although not satisfying, it's possible... But quite a few banks ARE a big part of the problem too. Can you vouch for every bank's law abiding behaviour? Take BNP Paribas for example, a big French bank. Their liabilities are 27 times more important than their own assets, which is WAAAYY over the limit allowed. Technically, they are bankrupt and should be wiped out, but they act like this because they consider themselves "too big to fail", and (don't) know the people would be forced to back them up in case of trouble. What kind of behaviour is that? This is plain blackmailing.
 
Not true. All it means is that the world is not ready for an unregulated currency. Which is true, they aren't responsible enough. The citizens of Russia elected Putin et al (and by the way many support his attack on Ukraine). They are no responsible enough to be unregulated.
And who in the blue f*** would be entitled to say who is responsible enough? The executives at Lehman brothers? *That* would be fun!
 
Not true. All it means is that the world is not ready for an unregulated currency. Which is true, they aren't responsible enough. The citizens of Russia elected Putin et al (and by the way many support his attack on Ukraine). They are no responsible enough to be unregulated.
If you believe that Putin was elected in a fair election, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell you...
 
You could also say that you're shooting yourself in the foot if you're for crypto being unregulated. Unless you think criminals, rogue nations and tax dodgers should get away with circumventing the rules.
you do realize that they also use the normal banking system just under a fake name or front man. how do you think the CIA was able to take funding from al-Qaeda?
"If I could somehow snap my fingers and cut off the funding from one country, it would be Saudi Arabia."

—Stuart Levey,
Treasury Under Secretary,
in charge of tracking terror financing,
to ABC News, Sept. 11, 2007.
 
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