On March 23rd, Moscow was planning to host Russia's first conference dedicated to the electronic cryptocurrency, Bitcoin – the Moscow Bitcoin Conference. The event was to highlight the “anonymous” electronic currency, Bitcoin, and the prospects of electronic money.
Unfortunately, this event has been postponed indefinitely. The official announcement on the event’s official website reads:
Dear visitors! Unfortunately, due to technical problems the conference has been postponed indefinitely.
No other information has been published on the website, however, Cointelegraph has reached the event organizer by phone. A representative from the organizer of the event, IT Workshop, under the name of “Nikita” stated that the decision to postpone the event was a direct result of a “negative response from government authorities” or more specifically, The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, the FSB.
The representative also clarified that the move was an enforcement of the announcement previously issued by the Bank of Russia on cryptocurrencies.
There is no word yet as to how this will impact a similar event, Bitcoin Conference Russia – which to be hosted in Moscow on April 23rd, 2014.
UPD
In a follow-up email, the Cointelegraph.com received a short written response from the Moscow Bitcoin Conference: "The reason is negative reaction of Russian federal authorities. We will try again as soon as situation will become more stable."
Expert's opinion from Matthew Slater: "Russia and USA are working together to drive bitcoin underground. they are using regulation to kill it as a legitimate instrument, then they will be able to characterize all bitcoin users as terrorists. Bitcoin is the frontline in the war on the 99.9%".