Greece’s Council of State ruled for the extradition to France of former operator of now-shuttered crypto exchange BTC-e and Russian national Alexander Vinnik. English-language local news outlet Greek Reporter reported on the court’s decision on Jan. 23. Yesterday, Russian news agency TASS reported that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov protested: “The decision to extradite him to France is inadmissible as long as no explanations have been provided why he is not extradited to Russia. His family has been broken up, his right to life and health violated. Greece is obliged to hold prisoners in conditions that do not allow torture …

The lawyers for Alexander Vinnik, the alleged operator of defunct crypto exchange BTC-e, have filed a complaint alleging violation of Vinnik’s rights. Written on behalf of Vinnik’s young children, the complaint has been filed with a Greek court to prevent the allegedly approaching criminal’s extradition to France and the United States. Vinnik’s extradition from Greece was allegedly scheduled for last weekend Timofey Musatov, the head of Vinnik’s legal representation alleges that Vinnik’s extradition had been scheduled for last weekend, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Jan. 17. Musatov suggested that Vinnik’s extradition had been planned for this past weekend based …

The Prime Minister of the Russian Federation has called on the country to prioritize the development of the digital economy. As domestic news outlet RIA Novosti reported on Jan. 16, Mikhail Mishustin — who was confirmed in the position as the Prime Minister earlier today — noted some key priorities for his work and outlined the need for institutional reforms in Russia. Mishustin said that the country should implement modern information technologies, including the development of a national digital economy program, adding: “The state should become a digital platform that is created for people.” Mishustin gave his statement after the …

This is the second part of a three-part series that covers the regulatory landscape for digital currencies in 2019 and looks at the prospects of 2020. While the first chapter in the series looked at the "Insiders," this installment covers the prospects for the so-called “Outsiders” — i.e., China, Russia, India and the developing world. Unlike the Insiders, which built the modern financial system on top of the U.S. dollar in the 1940s, the Outsiders pay for access to that system due to varying historical and geopolitical reasons. Related: 2019 to 2020: Insiders, Outsiders and Experimenters in Crypto Regulation: Part …

The Bank of Russia, the country’s central bank, has reportedly started testing stablecoins pegged to real assets in a regulatory sandbox. Elvira Nabiullina, Russia’s central bank head, said that the bank doesn’t assume that those stablecoins will function as a means of payment or become a substitute for money, Russian news service Interfax reported on Dec. 25. Nabiullina noted that the Bank of Russia is exploring the potential uses of stablecoins — cryptocurrencies that are pegged to another asset to prevent the volatility associated with crypto markets. She said: “We are testing stablecoins in our regulatory ‘sandbox’. We see companies …

Binance, the second-largest exchange by daily trading volume, has extended trading capabilities for the Turkish lira (TRY) and added a new trading pair for the lira and the Russian ruble (RUB). Binance users can now trade Tether (USDT) against the Turkish lira (USDT/TRY) and the Russian ruble (USDT/RUB). According to an official announcement on Dec. 25, the exchange opened trading for the new pairs on Binance on Dec. 25 at 8:00 AM UTC. In addition, Binance Turkey’s community manager told Cointelegraph that the exchange has added order book trading for all of its Turkish lira trading pairs: BTC, ETH, XRP, …

Greece’s top administrative court has suspended a decision to extradite Alexander Vinnik, a Russian national suspected of laundering of billions of dollars through a cryptocurrency exchange. According to Reuters on Dec. 23, Vinnik’s lawyer said that the decision to extradite is suspended until the court hears an appeal, the date of which is still pending. As Cointelegraph reported, the Greek Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights had decided to extradite Vinnik to France earlier this month. At the time, the Russian Embassy expressed its regret that the Greek government “ignored” Russia’s request to extradite Vinnik to the country of …

Alexander Vinnik, the alleged former operator of now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e, will be extradited to France, according to a new decision from Greece. Following years of disagreement on what jurisdiction should care about the alleged Bitcoin (BTC) laundering suspect, the Ministry of Justice, Transparency and Human Rights has reportedly decided to finally extradite the Russian citizen to France. The news was reported by the Russian Embassy in Greece on Twitter on Dec. 20. Russian Embassy expresses regret over Greece “ignoring” requests to bring Vinnik to the country of his citizenship Noting that the decision was delivered by the Minister for …

The world’s largest diamond mining firm, Russia’s Alrosa, has partnered with Tencent, the operator of Chinese social media app WeChat, on a new blockchain-based e-commerce project. Together with blockchain platform Everledger, Tencent and Alrosa will launch a new diamond-focused retail mini-program targeted at WeChat’s one billion active users, according to a Dec. 16 press release. In a joint statement, the three firms said the program aims to improve transparency and consumer trust across the diamond supply chain, enabling social media users to purchase diamonds with full knowledge of their origin, characteristics and ownership history. Ethical credentials The three firms claim …

At the end of November, news surfaced that Russian cryptocurrency users, who have been operating in a regulatory gray zone, could soon be at risk as the nation’s financial authorities reportedly join forces to outlaw the use of digital assets as a payment instrument. Shortly after, the country’s interior ministry confirmed rumors that it was on track to developing a legal framework for confiscating digital assets, which could come into effect as soon as 2021. Finally, the head of Russia’s main financial intelligence agency, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service, has also spoken unfavorably before parliament about the prospects of legalizing …

Two Russian citizens are being prosecuted for allegedly targeting computers at state organizations to illicitly mine cryptocurrency. The two unnamed individuals purportedly infected the hardware with a program that mines cryptocurrency via a web browser, local media agency Tass reported on Dec. 16. One of the suspects, a resident of the city of Kurgan, is reported to have created an extensive botnet to infect computers across various regions of the country. The second suspect reportedly focused his mining operations on hardware at the state water utility JSC Rostovvodokanal. Mining can use up to 80% of targets’ processing power, official warns …

Coming every Sunday, Hodler’s Digest will help you track every single important news story that happened this week. The best (and worst) quotes, adoption and regulation highlights, leading coins, predictions and much more — a week on Cointelegraph in one link. Top Stories This Week VeChain loses $6.6 million in VET tokens to hacker in attack on buyback wallet An unknown hacker has redirected a whopping 1.1 billion VET tokens from the VeChain Foundation’s buyback wallet to a personal address. The crypto was worth an estimated $6.6 million at the time, with the company stressing that the security integrity of …