[torginus]

A lot of countries cracked down on merchants accepting bitcoin, and in a lot of places it's illegal to offer BTC->cash conversions without KYC.

I suspect authoritarian regimes would be the first to close this loophole. This is not theoretical - Russia did this in 2022 to stop people from offloading their rubles and/or fleeing the country with their money.

[kikimora]

As a Russian I can attest - you can do crypto in Russia and it is one of a very few ways many friends of mine support their families from abroad.

[torginus]

And what's the legal status of crypto nowadays for individuals?

[kikimora]

Crypto is qualified as property and regulated in a very similar way. There is a market for borrowing using tokens regulated by digital assets act (цифровые финансовые активы).

[mizzao]

Yep, it's highly illegal to use crypto in China