A group of Russian members of parliament (MPs) has introduced a draft bill on blocking suspicious financial websites on Tuesday, Dec. 11. Russian crypto media outlet Forklog believes it can encompass “scam” Initial Coin Offerings (ICO). According to the document, the country’s central bank will be able to call to block websites as soon as they do not comply with the current legislation. Moreover, the state bank can apply to the court in order to block the page on the basis of pre-trial settlement. Websites that fake existing banks’ URLs, offer financial services without having a license, or promote “financial …

The former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has characterized Bitcoin (BTC) as “a lottery ticket,” in an article for major United Kingdom daily broadsheet The Guardian Dec. 10. Writing in the midst of the recent crypto market price collapse, current Harvard University Professor of Economics and Public Policy Kenneth Rogoff suggested that the “overwhelming sentiment” among crypto advocates is that the total “market capitalisation of cryptocurrencies could explode over the next five years, rising to $5-10 [trillion].” The historic volatility of the emerging asset class, he conceded, indeed indicates that Bitcoin’s decline from its all-time highs of …

Singapore-based cryptocurrency exchange Huobi has officially launched its first branch in Russia on Thursday, Dec. 6, according to a press release shared with Cointelegraph today. The Moscow-based exchange, dubbed Huobi Russia, is established in partnership with the state-owned Russian Development Bank’s (VEB) Digital Transformation Center and supported by Huobi’s regional exchange partnership program, Huobi Cloud. The Center of Digital Transformation was created by VEB to promote blockchain and other crypto-related technologies, as its website states. Back in September of this year, Huobi first joined Russia’s VEB Innovation Fund and became a resident of the Digital Transformation Center to share experience …

A Russian court dedicated to intellectual property cases has successfully tested a blockchain network for storing copyright data. The technology was reportedly used for the first time in the judicial area in Russia, major Russian news agency TASS writes Monday, Dec. 3. According to TASS, the court recorded a change in a group of right holders, using a blockchain solution provided by Russian intellectual property startup IPChain. IPChain’s president Andrey Krichevsky claims this is a precedent for the Russian judicial system, calling the use of the tech “a definite breakthrough.” Krichevsky believes that blockchain could help increase interoperability in the …

Sberbank and Interros Group have carried out an over-the-counter OTC foreign exchange repurchase agreement (repo) transaction employing smart contracts on a blockchain, Reuters Russia reports Nov. 30. The Interros Group is a Moscow-based private equity firm founded by Russian oligarch Vladimir Potanin in 1990, with stakes in Norilsk Nickel, pharmaceutical company Petrovax Pharm, and ski resort development firm Rosa Khutor. Head of global markets department and vice president at Sberbank, Andrei Shemetov, informed Reuters that the transaction is real, legally binding, and has been “concluded in electronic format using a smart contract and digital signatures through the IT platform of …

Russia’s cryptocurrency legislation, the draft bill “On Digital Financial Assets,” has been sent back to the first reading stage for significant changes, Russian daily newspaper Kommersant reported Nov. 30. According to Kommersant, the head of the council and chairman of the State Duma committee on state building Pavel Krasheninnikov said that the document has no relation to cryptocurrencies or tokens, and lawyers have noted that its wording comes into conflict with the norms of Russian legislation for corporations. The law, which is one of three projects originally designed to regulate crypto in the country, replaces all crypto- and token-related terminology …

The Minister of Economic Development of Russia referred to Bitcoin (BTC) as a “soap bubble” that has has led to investors’ losses, Russian informational agency RBK reported Nov. 28. Minister Maksim Oreshkin, speaking in an interview with RBK, noted how the the cost of Bitcoin (BTC) has decreased dramatically, referencing the coin’s rise to $20,000 in December 2017: “When Bitcoin's price jumped up to $20,000, and now it is lower than $4,000, we said very simple things: Bitcoin itself is a soap bubble, it deflated, that's what happened” However, Oreshkin also said that despite a fair number of losses among …

The lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, the alleged former operator of defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, has said that a district court in Cyprus has withdrawn their lawsuit on charges “of fraud, money laundering and other crimes.” This development was reported by state-operated Russian news agency RIA Novosti Nov. 27. Timofey Musatov, the head of the lawyers’ group representing Vinnik, has said that the district court of Limassol city has formally granted the plaintiffs’ petition to recall their lawsuit against Vinnik and even ruled “to compensate the defendant for all legal costs incurred by him.” Musatov added: “The case against Alexander collapsed …

The lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, the alleged former operator of defunct cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, said his defendant will go on a hunger strike this Monday, Russian state-owned news outlet TASS reported Nov. 23. According to Timofey Musatov, the head of the lawyers representing Vinnik, the reason given for the hunger strike is that “he [Vinnik] was stripped of the right for defense in France and, consequently, in Greece.” The lawyer also noted that “it became clear that the [French-issued] European arrest warrant expired.” In 2017, Greece’s supreme court ruled to extradite Vinnik to the U.S., where he faces charges of …

Multisectoral blockchain company Bitfury has partnered with the Plekhanov Russian University of Economics to create an accelerator for blockchain projects, Russian crypto news outlet Forklog reports Nov. 21. In addition to supporting the development of blockchain projects, the university will provide courses and additional education dedicated to “training specialists who are able to create innovative projects using digital technologies in a short time.” This will enable specialists to “bring [the projects] to market amid the new industrial revolution,” Dmitry Ufaev, the head of Bitfury Russia, told Forklog. According to Forklog, the project will be backed by Russia’s Ministry of Digital …

Securities Commissioner Karen Tyler of North Dakota, U.S., has issued a cease and desist order against a Russian Initial Coin Offering (ICO) that posed as Liechtenstein Union Bank, according to a Monday, Nov. 19 press release. The state Securities Department’s ICO Task Force conducted an investigation and found out that the website of the fraudulent ICO mimicked Union Bank Payment Coin (UBPC) — an existing token launched by Union Bank in Liechtenstein back in August. As per the regulator, the project’s website claimed to become the “world’s first security token backed by a fully licensed bank” and stated that the …

The lawyer representing the alleged former operator of now-defunct crypto exchange BTC-e, Alexander Vinnik, has accused the Greek Supreme Court of “grossly violating” his rights, major Russian state-owned news agency TASS reported Nov. 19. 39-year old Russian national Vinnik, a.k.a “Mr. Bitcoin,” was indicted by U.S. authorities and detained in Greece on July 25, 2017 on criminal charges of fraud and 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 a further series of fraud allegations. When a Thessaloniki court ruled in support of Vinnik’s extradition …