Bitcoin trading is growing in Russia. That’s despite attempts by the government to make it difficult for investors to do so.

For years, Russian lawmakers have blown hot and cold over cryptocurrency regulation, creating an atmosphere that has often left the entire digital asset industry in the country on tenterhooks.

According to Paxful, Russian users joining the peer-to-peer bitcoin (BTC) exchange have increased by 350% over the last 12 months. New registrations have swelled to record highs month-on-month since the new coronavirus outbreak in March.

The exchange said it is now seeing an average monthly trading volume of $4 million in the Eastern European country, compared to other P2P platforms.

For payment, Russians prefer to use gift cards, online wallets, bank transfers, and credit or debit cards, it stated in a statement shared with news.Bitcoin.com. Anton Kozlov, Paxful’s Manager for the Russian market, said:

Crisis aside, Russia has always had a monolithic banking system that is dominated by a few players, and the sentiment we get is that Russians are increasingly looking to find alternative ways to grow their earnings and participate in the financial market. Bitcoin within the P2P context allows them much more freedom to do so – and our data is proving it.

A new law passed on July 22 prohibits the use of bitcoin to pay for goods and services, but grants legal recognition to cryptocurrencies. Such clarity may help drive further growth of the Russian digital asset market.

Russia is reportedly the largest P2P bitcoin trading market in Europe, but a lot of the trading takes place on Localbitcoins, with a volume of about $32 million changing hands this month, according to data from Useful Tulips.

For the same period, the research firm puts Paxful’s BTC trading volume in Russia at just $405,000 – a figure that contradicts the one issued by the exchange itself as cited elsewhere in this report.

Paxful said earlier this July that its bitcoin trading volumes climbed 35% to $1.1 billion during the first six months of 2020 compared to $817 million a year ago.

The growing U.S. exchange revealed that more than $182 million worth of BTC, on average, was traded on the platform every month between January and June this year. Nigeria, U.S., Ghana, India, and Kenya led the growth, with emerging markets rising fastest.

To date, Paxful has accumulated 4.5 million users and reached a total of $4.6 billion trading volume for BTC since it started operations in 2015.

What do you think about Russia’s growing bitcoin trading activity? Let us know in the comments section below.

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https://news.bitcoin.com/bitcoin-trading-is-booming-in-uncertain-russia-with-350-spike-in-new-users-on-paxful/

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Source: cryptomoneyteam.co

Author: By TeamMMG

Beijing Arbitration Commission Says China Didn’t Ban BTC Entirely

The Beijing Arbitration Commission said that actually China didn’t ban BTC entirely since Bitcoin-related activities are not prohibited by the government of China as we are reading more about the report in the best cryptocurrency news sites today.

China is one of the places in the world with the most strict crypto jurisdictions and regulations as it has not completely banned Bitcoin according to the Beijing Arbitration Commission, which is a non-profit arbitration organization. According to a report by the BAC Commission, China’s ban on bitcoin is more nuanced than some have actually believed and suggested. In the report, the BAC clarified that China’s legal stance on crypto-assets such as Bitcoin is not prohibited by the government. According to the BAC, China only prohibits token fundings and trading platforms from engaging with exchanges in legal tender and virtual currency or tokens.

The Commission then stated that the same law that bans cryptocurrency as money, recognized it as a virtual commodity. The existing laws according to BAC are not quite specific to regulate Bitcoin as virtual property. The General Principles of Civil Laws don’t make specific provisions on the extension and connotation of the virtual property but only stipulate that the protection of virtual property has to be stipulated by law and the specific measures of virtual property are “entrusted to other laws.” The country has no laws on Bitcoin so it cannot be recognized as a virtual property:

“In summary, the state does not prohibit Bitcoin’s activities as virtual commodities, except for the activities that Bitcoin is engaged in as legal tender.”

Since Bitcoin doesn’t constitute money in China, the government has not approved BTC as a legal tender and it is also not used as an alternative to the legal tender or fiat currencies so it should not be associated with illegal transactions:

 “The prohibited transactions include those when Bitcoin is used as a currency. If Bitcoin does not engage in activities as a currency, it is not a transaction prohibited by the state. For example, in the equity transfer contract dispute decided by the Shenzhen International Arbitration Court, the two parties agreed on the return of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is only used as a general property. Therefore, the transaction does not violate relevant national regulations and should be valid.”

China emerged as one of the most strict countries in regards to crypto regulation on local crypto exchanges back in 2017 as the biggest exchange Binance originally moved from the country to Malta where there are more friendly regulations towards crypto and blockchain.

Source: cryptomoneyteam.co

Author: By TeamMMG

Apex Crypto News – Russian Interest in Paxful’s P2P Platform Surges 350%

Data from Bitcoin (BTC) marketplace Paxful shows a huge surge of interest in cryptocurrency peer-to-peer trading in Russia, with 350% growth on a year-over-year (YoY) basis.

According to the study, from the period of May 2019 to May 2020, Paxful is now seeing an average monthly trading volume of $4M in Russia. The company says that this number “exceeds expectations,” together with the YoY usage increase figures.

The last three-months saw a 42% increase, with May recording the best monthly performance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. The virus is one of the major drivers of growth according to Paxful.

Speaking with Cointelegraph, Ray Youssef, CEO of Paxful, provided his thoughts on the reasons behind the spike. He said there was a “strong belief in the future of cryptocurrency” combined with a “lack of trust that some may experience within their traditional financial systems.”

“COVID-19 also brought about a wave of financial insecurity globally, which contributed to more peer-to-peer interactions within the crypto sector.”

Youssef recalled the experience of Russians during the economic downturn in 1998, when people tried to withdraw cash unsuccessfully, as “the banks seemed to have dried up.” A turn to BTC could “be to offset any economic damages” that could occur due to the pandemic, he said.

Anton Kozlov, Paxful’s manager for the Russian market, added that Russia has “always had a monolithic banking system,” which is encouraging citizens to look for alternative ways to participate in the financial markets such as crypto P2P trading.

Recently, a branch of the Russian federal government published a draft of new litigation called On Digital Financial Assets, which is focused on enforcing strict cryptocurrency laws in the country. The legislation has not been approved yet and has been in discussion since 2018.

Credit: Source link

Source: apexcryptonews.com

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Source: https://news.bitcoin.com/indian-government-confirms-crypto-bill-is-awaiting-approval/

Source: reginnovate.com

Author: by cryptoregradar

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