<p>It seems that Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) of the U.S. senate <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-financial-bitcoins-idUSTRE7573T320110608">sought a law criminalizing it</a> back in 2011. Guess the media moved on and the law stalled.</p>

<p>There are also countries like Venezuela, which criminalize exchange of a 'foreign currency', under the Foreign Exchange Crime Act. Essentially, this is so they can pretend that bolivars are worth more than they really are.</p>

<p>Now, is bitcoin a 'foreign currency'?</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>“Foreign Currency:  Any currency, whether in coins, bank notes, bank checks and in any form, other than the bolivar, the latter being understood to be the legal tender in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as securities denominated in foreign currency or that can be settled in foreign currency.”</p>
</blockquote>

<p>Technically, yes.</p>

<p><a href="http://www.bpmaw.com/eng/c_cambios2010-eng.asp">Source</a></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-26T06:57:33.883Z
2013-01-26T06:57:33.883Z
Nick ODell
<p>Currently there is no known incident of bitcoin blocking.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-26T06:41:01.840Z
2013-01-26T06:41:01.840Z
ripper234
<p>Are there any countries which currently block or plan to block Bitcoin? If anyone has enough reputation to edit this, maybe add "censorship" or maybe "freedom" as a tag because i can't.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2013-01-26T12:51:36.227Z
I changed the tag to "legal" which is a tag that has been used quite a lot already. "Block" really refers to something else so I removed that tag.
D.H.
<legal>
Are there any countries which currently block or plan to block Bitcoin?
leximus prime
# Are there any countries which currently block or plan to block Bitcoin?

(Asked by: username_0 on 2013-01-26)

Are there any countries which currently block or plan to block Bitcoin? If anyone has enough reputation to edit this, maybe add "censorship" or maybe "freedom" as a tag because i can't.

**Tags:** legal

> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: I changed the tag to "legal" which is a tag that has been used quite a lot already. "Block" really refers to something else so I removed that tag.  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2013-01-26. Score: 5

It seems that Charles Schumer (D-NY) and Joe Manchin (D-WV) of the U.S. senate [sought a law criminalizing it](http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/08/us-financial-bitcoins-idUSTRE7573T320110608) back in 2011. Guess the media moved on and the law stalled.

There are also countries like Venezuela, which criminalize exchange of a 'foreign currency', under the Foreign Exchange Crime Act. Essentially, this is so they can pretend that bolivars are worth more than they really are.

Now, is bitcoin a 'foreign currency'?

> “Foreign Currency: Any currency, whether in coins, bank notes, bank checks and in any form, other than the bolivar, the latter being understood to be the legal tender in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as well as securities denominated in foreign currency or that can be settled in foreign currency.”

Technically, yes.

[Source](http://www.bpmaw.com/eng/c_cambios2010-eng.asp)


---

### Answer by username_3 on 2013-01-26. Score: 2

Currently there is no known incident of bitcoin blocking.


---

