The massive 2018 bear market is not a reason to bury crypto, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev claimed in a speech at the Gaidar forum. Russian news agency TASS reported on Medvedev’s comments yesterday, Jan. 15. Medvedev outlined the current crypto market situation as one of the main questions on the world community’s agenda, along with other challenges such as shifts in traditional markets, a rise in protectionism and social inequalities, and the speed and scope of global digital transformation. Speaking at the annual international scientific conference on the economy, Russia’s prime minister and former president urged the public to …

A recent spate of ransomware attacks estimated to have earned hackers 705.08 Bitcoin (BTC) ($2.5 million) likely came from Russian cybercriminals, not North Korean state-sponsored actors as initially thought. The development was reported on The Next Web’s crypto-focused news site Hard Fork on Jan. 14. Hard Fork cites evidence from cybersecurity research teams McAfee Labs and Crowdstrike, which have analyzed the strategies used in developing and disseminating the Ryuk ransomware strain, and concluded that the identity and motivations of its masterminds have most likely until now been misreported. The Ryuk campaign notably attracted wide attention following its targeting of major …

The State Duma, the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, will discuss a draft bill on crypto regulation in January or February, the head of Committee on Financial Markets told local news agency TASS on Monday, Jan. 14. Chairman Anatoly Aksakov said that a long-awaited bill on digital assets — a term used by the Russian government to define crypto-related technologies — is tied to initiatives on crowdfunding and investment platforms. The projects will be discussed together, most likely in February, he stated. The timeline was set following a request from Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the State Duma. On …

Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of the lower chamber of the Russian parliament, has said that bills on the digital economy will be a priority during the upcoming session. The parliament’s official website revealed this in a press release published Wednesday, Jan. 9. Speaking at the opening of the parliament’s spring session, Volodin mentioned the digital economy bills that are currently being considered, including the ones on digital financial assets, digital rights and crowdfunding. According to the chairman, the members of the parliament will focus on these bills during the upcoming session. Volodin also urged lawmakers to create a favorable legal …

Foreign investors are interested in the Crimean blockchain cluster, local official Georgy Muradov told Russian major news agency RIA Novosti on Jan. 2. Muradov, who serves as the permanent representative of the Republic of Crimea under the president of the Russian Federation, revealed that the project is mainly of interest to Chinese investors, as the country houses many crypto startups. The authorities of the heavily sanctioned peninsula have plans to create a crypto investment fund and cryptocurrency exchange, as soon as relevant crypto regulation is provided by the Russian government, Muradov continued. The official believes the initiatives will facilitate implementing …

The government of the Republic of Abkhazia has cut power to some cryptocurrency mining farms due to electricity concerns, state electric utility Chernomorenergo RUE announced in a Facebook post on Dec. 31. Per the announcement, Chernomorenergo cut power to 15 facilities with a total capacity of 8,950 kilowatt-hours (kWh), which is purportedly equivalent to the electricity consumption of 1,800 households. The cuts were made as part of a series of “temporary measures to limit the consumption of electricity by certain categories of subscribers." Chernomorenergo also notes that, following the cuts, owners of the mining farms showed understanding and collaboration. Regulators …

Andrew Bustamante, reportedly a former CIA intelligence officer, has claimed blockchain is “super powerful stuff” that represents a threat to America’s national security. Bustamante, who specializes in publishing life-hacks based on his knowledge of espionage, made his elliptical remarks in a subreddit thread on Dec. 22. Bustamante is also reportedly a United States Air Force veteran and Fortune 10 corporate advisor. He brought up blockchain in response to a question in a subreddit thread, on news aggregation site Reddit, dedicated to Bustamante’s “Everyday Espionage” — what he dubs an “integrated education and training platform that teaches international espionage tactics to …

Russia's Ministry of Finance (MinFin) believes that the creation of a Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU)-backed digital currency is inevitable due to the United States’ sanctions. Major Russian media agency Rambler reported MinFin’s comments on Friday, Dec. 21. MinFin reportedly sees an opportunity for launching a digital currency backed by countries in the EAEU by 2020 or 2021, as deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev revealed. The Eurasian Union was established in 2014 and includes five member countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. The announced digital currency project will be most likely implemented without using blockchain technology, Moiseev stated, as reported …

The Supreme Court of Greece has ruled in support of a decision to extradite the alleged former operator of now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e Alexander Vinnik to France. A “correspondent at the scene” from major Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported the news Dec. 19. As previously reported, 39-year old Russian national Vinnik, a.k.a “Mr. Bitcoin,” was first indicted by United States authorities and detained in Greece on July 25, 2017, on criminal charges of fraud and allegedly laundering up to $4 billion in Bitcoin (BTC) via BTC-e. Russia and France have since both sought the defendant’s extradition in regard to …

Saratov Oblast, a region in Southern Russia, has conducted a reportedly successful blockchain election with 40,000 participants, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph Dec. 18. On Dec. 12, participants voted to elect members of the local Youth Parliament via the blockchain-driven electronic polling system Polys, developed by Kaspersky Lab in 2017. According to the press release, the decentralized network was deployed at 110 polling stations and the election lasted seven hours. Blockchain-driven voting mechanisms are being actively tested on both the regional and national levels in many countries. Switzerland implemented blockchain-based voting this summer, while the United States …

Big four consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has partnered with mining and blockchain software company Bitfury Group to create a blockchain accelerator for businesses in Russia, according to a PwC press release today, Dec. 13. The release explains that PwC has already used Exonum — Bitfury’s open source framework for building blockchain applications — for educational courses and seminars. According to the release, the main goal of the new accelerator is to meet the “current needs” of the consulting giant’s enterprise clients in Russia. Victor Nelin, an IT consulting manager at PwC’s Russian branch, claimed that Bitfury and PwC will provide …

Maxim Akimov, the deputy prime minister of Russia, announced that the authors of Russia’s draft cryptocurrency legislation were not planning on making any changes to the bill. His statement was reported by Russian information agency Finmarket, which specializing on the financial and commodity markets, on Dec. 11. The bill “On Digital Financial Assets” — approved by Russia’s parliament, the State Duma, back in May — has given rise to a lot of discussion within the Russian legal discourse since its first reading. Back in the fall, all crypto- and token-related terminology had been replaced with the term “digital rights,” and …