Finally, Russia welcomes its first Bitcoin exchange

Since Russian officials announced their intention to cancel criminal penalties for Bitcoin users, Moscow has welcomed the country's first digital currency exchange.

The Bitcoin exchange is jointly operated by a group of Bitcoin enthusiasts and provides 24-hour offline digital currency trading services.

Currently, the exchange only offers a "one-way" trading service, where users can sell bitcoins, which is handled privately by the exchange. The service of buying bitcoins is still unavailable.

If successful, the team plans to officially register the exchange service so that it doesn’t have to worry about the legal issues involved.

Since the exchange is open 24 hours a day, users can trade Bitcoin at any time with cash or card. During the day, BTC-e provides services with a 4% fee, while at night the fee rises to 10%.

Russia halts Bitcoin sanctions bill

Earlier this year, CCN reported that Russia’s deputy finance minister recommended that the State Duma (equivalent to the lower house of parliament) ban the use of Bitcoin in the country and impose criminal penalties on any citizen who uses Bitcoin.

In July, Russia’s digital currency ban seemed to be somewhat relaxed, with the deputy finance minister suggesting amending the bill to define Bitcoin as a foreign currency, making it illegal for citizens to trade Bitcoin abroad.

Recently, Russian officials have been trying to stop the Bitcoin ban, which stipulates that citizens who trade cryptocurrencies in the country are likely to face fines of up to $38,000. The emergence of the Moscow Bitcoin Exchange seems to indicate that Russia has finally accepted digital currencies.