An executive at Russia’s Chamber of Commerce and Industry has called on the government to conduct cross-border settlements in cryptocurrencies and central bank digital currencies (CBDCs). Chamber President Sergei Katyrin sent a letter to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, providing a set of proposals for developing cooperation with African countries, the local state-backed publication TASS reported Thursday. In the letter, Katyrin reportedly advocated the use of CBDCs and cryptocurrencies for mutual settlement and payments as part of Russia’s move into Africa amid Western sanctions, stating: “It seems useful to instruct the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, together with …

Crypto trading company Currency.com has announced it halted operations for clients based in Russia following the country’s “violence and disorder” imposed on the people of Ukraine. In a Tuesday announcement, Currency.com said Russian residents would no longer be able to access its services following the platform’s decision to stop Russia-based clients from opening new accounts. According to Currency.com’s website, the Gibraltar-based crypto trading platform has offices in Kyiv, London, and Vilnius, but was previously licensed and headquartered in Belarus. “We condemn the Russian aggression in the strongest possible terms,” said Vitalii Kedyk, head of strategy for the platform’s London operations …

The ongoing conflict in Ukraine has become a stress test for crypto in many tangible ways. Digital assets have emerged as an effective means of directly supporting humanitarian efforts, and the crypto industry, despite enormous pressure, has largely proved itself a mature community — one ready to comply with international policies without compromising the core principles of decentralization. But there is another vital role that crypto has filled during these tragic events: It is becoming more and more familiar to those who have found themselves cut off from the payment systems that had once seemed unfailing. Traditional financial infrastructures don’t …

The Council of the European Union has cut Russians off from certain cryptocurrency services as part of a package of restrictive measures against Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “brutal aggression against Ukraine and its people.” In a Friday announcement, the EU council said it would be closing potential loopholes in using digital assets for Russian entities and individuals to evade sanctions with a “prohibition on providing high-value crypto-asset services” to the country. The action was one of three financial measures the European Commission proposed alongside banning transactions and freezing assets connected to four Russian banks as well as a “prohibition on …

Bitcoin (BTC) neared new price lows for April on Friday's Wall Street open amid a fresh surge in the U.S. dollar. $43,000 hangs in the balance Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView captured another day of gloom for BTC bulls as the largest cryptocurrency slipped back under $43,000. In a classic move, BTC/USD reacted unfavorably to a resurgent dollar, with the U.S. dollar currency index (DXY) returning above 100 for the first time since May 2020. Coming on the back of tightening measures from the Federal Reserve, the greenback also spelled a headache for stocks, which opened down on …

The Russian prime minister declared that the cryptocurrency holdings of Russians are worth billions of dollars but the government is yet to adopt a regulatory framework for the industry. Russians collectively hold more than 10 trillion rubles ($130 billion) in cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Russian prime minister Mikhail Mishustin claimed at the annual report presentation of the Russian government on Thursday. The prime minister did not mention the source for this figure, noting that the amount is based on “various estimates,” stating: “We are well aware that we have more than 10 million young people having opened crypto wallets so …

The United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control has announced it will impose sanctions on darknet market Hydra and virtual currency exchange Garantex. In a Tuesday announcement, the Treasury Department said it had worked with the Department of Justice, Federal Bureau of Investigations, Drug Enforcement Administration, Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigation, and Homeland Security Investigations to sanction the Russia-based darknet marketplace as well as Garantex. The move from the U.S. government agencies came the same day the German Federal Criminal Police announced it had shut down Hydra’s servers in Germany and seized more than $25 million …

In her monthly Expert Take column, Selva Ozelli, an international tax attorney and CPA, covers the intersection between emerging technologies and sustainability, and provides the latest developments around taxes, AML/CFT regulations and legal issues affecting crypto and blockchain. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also known as the UN Refugee Agency, nearly 4 million Ukrainians have fled their homes since bombs began falling and bullets started flying on Feb. 24, with most heading to neighboring Central European countries. At the same time, people around the world have sent over $100 million in crypto donations to support Ukraine, …

As Russia continues to work on new regulations for the cryptocurrency industry, the Russian Ministry of Finance has expressed fresh support to Bitcoin (BTC) mining. Russia should encourage the development of industrial-level cryptocurrency mining in the country, ministry’s director of the financial policy department Alexey Yakovlev urged. There’s also no point in banning retail or household Bitcoin mining, Yakovlev said, as the local publication Prime reported on Thursday. The Russian lawmakers discussed the two categories of cryptocurrency miners at a recent round table called the “Mining regulation in Russia: For and Against.” According to Yakovlev, the Russian officials have long …

Russian Deputy Minister of Energy Evgeny Grabchak proposed eliminating the legal vacuum around crypto mining in the country and introducing clear regulation. This statement continues the recent streak of support for the crypto industry among the officials. Speaking at the first national conference of legal crypto miners in Irkutsk on Saturday, Grabchak called for introducing the regulatory framework for the sector as soon as possible: "The legal vacuum makes it difficult to regulate this area and set clear rules of the game. This legal vacuum needs to be [eliminated] as soon as possible. If we want somehow to get along …

Japan plans to amend its Foreign Exchange and Foreign Trade Act to bring crypto exchanges under the purview of laws that govern banks, a government official revealed on Monday. The proposed amendment is being carried out to prevent sanctioned countries from taking evasive actions using digital assets. Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno in a press conference said that the government is planning to introduce a bill to revise the Foreign exchange laws to include crypto exchanges. Fumio Kishida, the newly elected prime minister of the country, also supported the proposed revision and called for coordinated moves with Western allies to …

Gold has served as a store of value for thousands of years. Due to this, investors have widely used it as a hedging tool against the effects of recessions and inflation often caused by geopolitical tensions. In light of recent events such as the COVID-19 pandemic and, more recently, the military crisis between Russia and Ukraine, many investors have sought alternatives to gold and other precious metals as hedging options. As we approach a digitized age, it is a prerequisite that alternatives to gold are equipped to deal with the future. In this search for a contender to challenge gold’s …