Ever since the introduction of Bitcoin it seems that the legitimacy of cryptocurrency has been questioned. To be fair, all the business with the Silk Road website didn't help matters. We're several years down the road, though, and financial regulators and watchdogs still view the cryptocurrency market with distrust.

Russia Addresses Crypto Legitimacy

The latest news regarding Bitcoin's struggle for legitimacy comes from Russia. The Central Bank of Russia has just passed new guidelines for dealing with problem transactions which involve money laundering. One of the measures is that all cryptocurrency transactions will automatically be flagged as suspicious.

Financial regulators in Russia are essentially applying a blanket of suspicion to all dealings that involve cryptocurrency. The unfairness of this is apparent, but Russia's measures demonstrate what many in the cryptocurrency world already know. Financial watchdogs aren't very concerned with fairness when it comes to crypto.

There is a fair amount of hype around the Central Bank of Russia's actions. As always there are some individuals who try to make the news worse than it really is. In truth the measures being taken are not as restrictive as they sound. There are some positive takeaways from the news.

The action shows that Russia is willing to acknowledge that cryptocurrency merits discussion. That would not be the case unless Russia's banks weren't dealing with crypto on a day-to-day basis. It also signals that Russia is embracing blockchain technology, most likely for its own benefit and purposes.

Still, there is an underlying distrust among financial regulators of cryptocurrency and those who use it. There is an automatic assumption that anyone using crypto must have something to hide. This is the perception that cryptocurrency has to change before legitimacy can be assured in the banking world.

In the meantime the crypto markets continue to move as investors benefit from price action.