Russian central bank confirms block on foreign bids to sell Russian securities

Re:Russian central bank confirms block on foreign bids to se... by roenxi on Monday February 28, 2022 @06:37AM (#30498780)

There are basically two outcomes for someone involved in a war. Either their world will end, or they will have to live after the war. Which is a roundabout way of saying that on an individual level the economic calculations aren't that different from usual. They still need to plan on living a life after the current conflict, and will need to preserve their savings despite a rather predatory government looking for logs to throw into the fire of war.

What ordinary people desperately need is assets they can hide from their government to preserve some wealth. However, because it is 2022, they also have the option of assets that literally nobody can take off them. It'd be worth a shot, maybe the legal situation will be different in 5-10 years and if they invest in a crypto they'll be able to trade it for something.

I like their odds in literally anything more than odds in the Russian rouble. So crypto would make sense.

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Re:Russian central bank confirms block on foreign bids to se... by acdha on Monday February 28, 2022 @08:08AM (#30499405)

> However, because it is 2022, they also have the option of assets that literally nobody can take off them.

Don’t oversell it: this is a government with advanced internet monitoring capabilities and little concern about civil liberties. Make one opsec mistake or transact with someone who does, show unexplained money, etc. and then it’s “turn over the key if you want to see your children out of prison”. Blockchains are exceptionally risky here because they require a lot of visible network activity and leave a full history of your activity for the authorities.

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Re:Russian central bank confirms block on foreign bids to se... by roenxi on Tuesday March 01, 2022 @09:48PM (#30523051)

There is a high cost for the Russian government to do that - they have to organise some thugs, analyse the blockchain, set up back channels to on-sell the crypto, etc, etc. With the ruble they print more. Maybe update some numbers in a database. Very low cost. The harder it is to execute, the more likely it is for families to preserve some wealth.

And they can skim off the top of all Russians at once. Even bitcoin is a pretty uncontestable step up - fiat currencies are bad for storing wealth at the best of times but this is really not the best of times. This is the time to flee a sinking ship.

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Re:Russian central bank confirms block on foreign bids to se... by toyg on Monday February 28, 2022 @07:51AM (#30499276)

> assets they can hide from their government to preserve some wealth

I doubt that a government who pioneered cyberwarfare will be unable to locate your bitcoins; and once you do that, to acquire them they only need some goon with a monkeywrench - of which, I'm sure, there is no scarcity in Russia right now.

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Re:Russian central bank confirms block on foreign bids to se... by karpierz on Monday February 28, 2022 @08:44AM (#30499715)

Or just install a keylogger/virus on your computer to take your crypto.

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Re:Russian central bank confirms block on foreign bids to se... by shafyy on Monday February 28, 2022 @06:53AM (#30498871)

Ok, I can see this point. Still, I think the vast majority of people need money now, especially in a poor country like Russia.

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