The website of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, is no longer formally blacklisted in Russia, according to a new court ruling. According to a Jan. 21 report by Russian news agency Kommersant, the Arkhangelsk Regional Court has annulled a previous decision to blacklist the Binance website in Russia. Gleb Kostarev, Binance’s head of operations for Russia and the CIS, confirmed the news to Cointelegraph, stating that the court hearing took place on Jan. 20. The latest court decision reverts a previous ruling made in 2020. In September, Binance announced that its website came on the list of prohibited websites …
Authorities in Russia continue the game of ping pong in regulating cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC) even after passing the country’s first crypto law. Russia’s Ministry of Finance has reportedly proposed a set of amendments to the law “On Digital Financial Assets,” or DFA, which bans many operations with crypto. According to local news agency Izvestia, the proposed amendments envision a “blanket ban on any operations with virtual money for individuals and individual entrepreneurs” except for three scenarios. The ministry reportedly wants to ban all crypto transactions except the obtaining of assets through inheritance, bankruptcy and enforcement proceedings. The amendments reportedly …
A branch of the Russian federal government has recently published a draft of new litigation called “On Digital Financial Assets,” which is focused on enforcing strict cryptocurrency laws in the country. The legislation has not been approved yet and has been in discussion since 2018. The new laws define Bitcoin as property but not legal tender, and propose, among many other things, that Bitcoin (BTC) miners register as individual companies so they can be appropriately taxed. President Putin is planning on developing and revealing a new tax for Bitcoin miners by July 1, but many are skeptical about the government’s …
Russia is the latest country to officially require its government officials to report their cryptocurrency holdings. President Vladimir Putin has signed a decree obliging Russian officials to disclose their crypto investments by June 30, 2021, local news agency TASS reported on Dec. 10. Officially released on Thursday, the decree stipulates new measures related to Russia’s federal crypto law “On Digital and Financial Assets,” or DFA. The form requires officials to disclose data like the name of the digital asset, the date of acquisition, the total amount of held assets, as well as information about the issuer of an asset like …
After years of extradition debates, Bitcoin (BTC) launderer Alexander Vinnik has finally been sentenced by a French court. According to a report on Monday by Novaya Gazeta, Vinnik has been sentenced to five years in prison for "money laundering as part of an organized criminal group and providing false information about the origin of the proceeds" in addition to a fine of 100,000 euro ($121,000). According to the BBC, the court partially dropped charges related to the ransomware known as Locky. As of publishing time, online reports do not specify whether Vinnik’s sentence is related to his alleged senior role …