Russia has postponed the adoption of crypto legislation due to a requirement from the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering (FATF), local news agency TASS reports on May 21. According to the report, the FATF has recently ordered Russian lawmakers to expand the terminology of the federal bill on the regulation of crypto assets, requiring that the country legislate major industry terms such as cryptocurrencies and bitcoin (BTC). Russia’s major crypto bill, “On Digital Financial Assets” (DFA) was passed by the Russian parliament in May 2018, but was sent back to the first reading stage after reports of it …

A senior official in Russia's parliament, the State Duma, has argued that cryptocurrencies have the potential to ruin governments, Russian financial media agency Rambler reported on May 20. Nikolai Arefiev, a member of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation and vice-chairman of the Duma’s committee on economic policy, innovative development and entrepreneurship, claimed that cryptocurrencies were created in order to hide large offshore assets from the government. If cryptos such as bitcoin (BTC) had emerged by 1994, Russia would have been “fully destroyed” so far because it would have lost all its capital offshore, Arefiev stated, speaking at a …

Russia’s largest bank Sberbank has requested that a client provide information on their income from cryptocurrency, the Russian version of Forbes reported on May 17. Co-founder of cryptocurrency trading platform Toxenbox.io, Vladimir Smerkis, told Forbes that the unnamed client received a letter from Sberbank requiring disclosure of their crypto revenue. The letter based its demand on Federal Law No. 115, “On Combating Money Laundering and Terrorism Financing.” The client had reportedly already informed the bank about their income from exchanging cryptocurrencies. Specifically, Sberbank wanted to know the client's crypto wallet address, what mining equipment the client deployed (including the model …

Venezuela is considering to close mutual trade settlements with Russia using the ruble, Russian government-backed TV channel RT reports on May 17. Venezuela’s representative to the United Nations in Geneva Jorge Valero said they are also discussing uses for the state-owned Petro (PTR) cryptocurrency. Valero reportedly revealed that Venezuelan authorities are now working with Russia to find opportunities for eliminating the use of the United States dollar in trade deals between the two countries. As such, the two countries' authorities are purportedly mulling the use of the Russian ruble, as well as Venezuela’s oil-backed Petro digital currency, a controversial project …

Crypto regulation is not a priority for the Russian government since cryptocurrencies have lost their popularity, the Russian prime minister has recently argued. Prime minister Dmitry Medvedev’s comments were reported by Russian news agency Fontanka on May 16. According to Medvedev, cryptocurrencies are not that interesting for the population anymore, which decreases the need for the adoption of crypto regulations. He said: “The popularity of cryptocurrencies has decreased so far, which likely makes the regulation issue not that relevant already.” Speaking at an annual international judicial forum on May 15, Medvedev noted that the problem was widely discussed at a …

Popular Russian crypto exchange aggregator BestChange will soon resume operations after being blocked by the government, crypto news outlet Forklog reports May 7. The firm’s head of public relations and marketing Nikita Zuborev told Forklog that the block is expected to be lifted in the coming days following a court hearing. Russian telecommunications watchdog Roskomnadzor (RKN) blocked the BestChange website on March 12, following an order from a district court in Omsk, Russia’s seventh largest city. Despite the recent block by RKN, BestChange has still been operational in Russia through using various unblocking methods such as VPN services, Zuborev stated. …

Authorities of Moscow are planning to pilot blockchain-based electronic voting in university student council elections in late June 2019, establishing methods that the city’s mayoral election may be next to apply, Russian news agency TASS reported on May 6. According to the report, the project is set to be tested with the support of the Moscow Department of Information Technology (DIT) and the Moscow City Election Commission (Mosgorizbirkom). DIT deputy head Artem Kostyrko revealed that technical specifications for the pilot program will go to Mosizbirkom in mid-May for approval. Once the necessary legislation is passed and the commission approves the …

The United States, Japan and South Korea are the world’s biggest fans of cryptocurrency exchanges, new research from software firm DataLight reported April 29. After investigating the origin of traders who use well-known exchanges, DataLight — which continues to publish various insights into the industry — said that the U.S. has the highest share of visits, more than triple the next runner up. The firm analyzed monthly visits to 100 platforms, which yielded around 22.2 million from U.S.-based users. Second was Japan with 6.1 million visits, while South Korea had 5.7 million. The United Kingdom and Russia took fourth and …

Moscow and three other Russian regions will legally pilot the use of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, local media outlet Izvestia reports on April 24. The Russian Ministry of Economic Development is reportedly planning to test now-unregulated emerging technologies such as blockchain and crypto, as well as augmented and virtual reality, quantum tech, artificial intelligence and robotics. As Izvestia wrote, the currently unregulated technologies are planned to be tested as an experiment in Moscow, the Kaliningrad and Kaluga Oblasts, and Perm Krai in order to accelerate the adoption of new tech solutions. Specifically, the experiment is set to be carried out …

An adviser to the President of Russia has proposed to adopt a digital currency in Crimea to attract investors and avoid sanctions, local news agency TASS reports April 19. Sergey Glazyev, advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin on regional economic integration, urged the government to adopt “digital money technologies” to reduce “cross-border barriers,” the official said at the Yalta International Economic Forum (YIEF). According to Glazyev, adoption of digital currencies will “sharply reduce cross-border barriers” and will attract foreign investors who “are afraid of sanctions,” which are “generally carried out through the banks.” The official reportedly elaborated that digital money …

The central bank of Russia has reviewed the potential benefits and drawbacks of central bank digital currencies (CBDC) in a policy brief published on April 18. In the document, entitled “Is there a future for central bank digital currencies,” the Central Bank of the Russian Federation outlined a number of potential benefits of CBDCs, such as their capability to reduce transaction costs in the economy, as well as provide an asset that is less risky and more liquid. However, the Bank of Russia noted that CBDCs’ potential to minimize transaction costs can be only realized in case a technical solution …

Global messaging app Telegram has reportedly launched a private beta testing of its blockchain, Telegram Open Network (TON), Russian media outlet Vedomosti reports on April 11. According to Vedomosti, Telegram has opened access to a testing version of TON Blockchain to a limited number of global developers, including Russian dev teams. Citing two anonymous persons who acquired the early access, the news agency reported that the dev teams were enabled to set up TON Blockchain nodes. While testing has not provided any specific outcomes, the unnamed testers revealed that the TON Blockchain has demonstrated an “extremely high transaction speed.” However, …