Whenever I am asked, “How should governments treat cryptocurrencies” my general response is the following. Who cares?

You might as well ask me what the Japanese Yakuza or Mexican cartels should do about cryptos. I don’t really care.

Not that the Yakuza or the cartels are anywhere near as bad as governments. I apologize to them both for even making that insulting insinuation.

But, governments are by far the biggest mafias in their geographic regions and so the only reason I pay attention to what they think is just to avoid being kidnapped, extorted or killed by violating one of their opinions.

And they change their opinions all the time.

In the case of the official Russian mafia, puppeted by Vladimir Putin, it was only last October that Putin called for bitcoin and all digital currencies to be outlawed.

He was either drunk on the vodka then or is drunk now, though, as Russia just announced it will “legalize cryptocurrency” by July 1st of this year.

It’s good news, sure: better to have governments (gangs) capitulate to the rise of digital currencies than to outright resist them with their usual brutal force.

But Russian officials wouldn’t have to “legalize” math if they didn’t arbitrarily make it a “crime” to begin with.

Some news headlines say 'legalize': While others call it 'regulation':

Which makes sense: 'legalize' and 'regulate' are basically synonyms in the statist dictionary.

Indeed, Russia’s legalization is just a hesitant proposal to create layers of regulations that will “allow” cryptocurrencies to exist under the state’s watchful eye.

Crypto-enthusiasts under Putin will have to tiptoe around “legal guidelines for the issuance of initial coin offerings” and worry about a central bank that “isn’t keen on retail traders and investors participating in…trading.”

But wait, there’s more:

A separate bill on digital assets – to be submitted to the Russian Parliament this month – will aim to establish governance rules surrounding cryptocurrency mining. Individual entrepreneurs will be allowed to enter mining pools established by legally recognized entities and ‘conduct activities to extract cryptocurrencies that do not fall under the criteria of industrial mining,’ said Alexei Mostovshchikov, chair of the Expert Council of the Youth Parliament under the Russian Duma.

As usual, the state is seeking to justify its burdensome regulations by claiming it’s for the good of those whom they enslave and extort.

Parlamentskaya Gazeta, Russia’s Central Bank, says it’s worried about citizens endangering their lives with unsound financial decisions:

The central bank has come out against the legalization of this kind of digital currency inasmuch as citizens could then actively invest in instruments without considering possible risks.

Let me get this straight, the Russian government extorts and enslaves its “citizens” while the central bank counterfeits and constantly devalues the currency. But, they are worried about the poor folk who consider other options?

Thanks guys, but aren’t you already doing enough damage?

In any case, having a mafia come out and say they won’t kill you or extort you if they catch you doing math with computers is good… I guess.

But really what the world needs is for governments and central banks to just go away. And cryptocurrencies have the potential to help make that happen.

If you want to hear from 50+ of the world’s best speakers on freedom, investing and cryptocurrencies check out all the videos from Anarchapulco, Cryptopulco and the TDV Summit which just wrapped up in February HERE.

At those events, we're beginning to build a new world that will render governments and central banks obsolete… and we're earning a lot of bitcoin doing it.

Ask me if I care whether Vladimir Putin grants us permission or not. I dare you.