Major NGO the Russian Authors' Society (RAO) will launch a blockchain-based financial platform for intellectual property-secured loans, according to Russian news outlet TASS Nov. 16. RAO’s CEO Alexander Sukhotin revealed that the project, dubbed CoFi, is at its final stages of development and is set to be launched in the first quarter of 2019. The platform intends to bring together potential intellectual property rightsholders and investors that are ready to provide loan funds. The intellectual property market is facing a significant need for a system that will enable direct communication between rightsholders and investors, in order to issue loans secured …

On November 7, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee on Financial Markets announced details of the “CryptoRuble,” a long-discussed government cryptocurrency project. Specifically, the official said that a state-backed stablecoin would be a complete equivalent to the Russian fiat ruble, but in a digital space. Russian authorities have now ended up with this concept after years of contradicting statements, and still, a ruble-pegged stablecoin might not turn out stable in the end. Long and complex history of national cryptocurrency in Russia Russian national cryptocurrency was originally referred to as “Bitruble,” but then the term “CryptoRuble” became more common in …

Crimean authorities are considering creating a blockchain-cluster that would support investment platforms allowing foreign investors to work in sanctioned countries anonymously, major state-operated Russian news agency TASS reported Nov. 16. Previously this week, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea under the President of the Russian Federation, Georgy Muradov, had already revealed the Crimean government’s potential plans to create a separate blockchain-cluster in the region for venture capitalists funds. Today, Roman Kulachenko, the President of the Crimean Republican Association of Blockchain Technologies Investment, said that a new international education center for working with blockchain technologies as a way of …

The head of major state-owned Russian bank Sberbank has forecast that blockchain adoption will happen on an industrial scale in one to two years, local news agency TASS reported Nov. 13. Speaking to journalists this week, Sberbank CEO Herman Gref explained that the technology is entering the stage of its industrial development: “The hype around the technology [blockchain] is now over, and the technology is entering the stage of industrial development. It needs a year or two to be implemented at the industrial scale.” Gref argued that global markets are “not yet ready” for large-scale commercial adoption of blockchain, given …

The prestigious State Tretyakov Gallery in Moscow, Russia, is launching a blockchain-based art patronage scheme, Russian news agency TASS reports Nov. 15. The project, dubbed “My Tretyakov,” allows individuals or enterprises to make a private donation to contribute to the digitization of an item from the gallery’s collection, thereby becoming the artwork’s patron. The system, developed with business innovation collective RDI Digital, uses blockchain technology to assign and manage the patronage structure. According to a press statement from the gallery: "The donation amount is still under discussion. The system randomly selects which storage unit (electronic copy of an object of …

Five percent of Moscow residents who use non-cash methods of payment are open to using cryptocurrencies, according to a recently conducted survey, Forbes Russia reported Nov. 13. The investigation into the e-payment market in Moscow was carried out by Russian payment service Yandex.Money and the Moscow Information Technology Department (ITD). The experts purportedly surveyed 1,000 Moscow residents of various age categories by way of a phone survey. The experts found that among those Moscow residents who use non-cash forms of payment, one percent also use digital currency, while 5 percent expressed readiness to start using cryptocurrency to pay for their …

Internet security provider and research lab McAfee Labs has uncovered new malware which secretly uses consumer devices to mine Monero (XMR), a blog post confirmed Nov. 12. Dubbed “WebCobra” and originating from Russia, the latest threat downloads one of two mining clients and uses the processor power of an infected device to generate coins for the perpetrators. Displaying the more “classic” behavior of so-called “cryptojacker” malware, WebCobra runs almost without a trace, McAfee Labs says, the only noticeable difference for the end user being reduced hardware performance. “Coin mining malware is difficult to detect. Once a machine is compromised, a …

The Russian subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International has partnered with local state-owned oil giant Gazprom Neft to issue a bank guarantee on blockchain, Russian business newspaper Kommersant reported Nov. 12. According to Kommersant, the bank guarantee was issued to conduct a trade finance transaction involving four parties, Raiffeisen, Gazprom Neft, Belarusian firm Mozyr Oil Refinery, Priorbank of Belarus. Raiffeisen acted as an advising bank for the Russian oil company, while Priorbank of Belarus, which is part of Raiffeisen bank group, issued a bank guarantee for the deal via blockchain. The system used was reportedly developed by Raiffeisen, on the basis …

Swiss-based Transoil International and Solaris Commodities have conducted a blockchain pilot transaction of Black Sea wheat, S&P Global reports Nov. 12. Both companies are involved in the trading of international agricultural commodities like milling wheat, vegetable oil and flour. The two firms completed the pilot using the blockchain-based agri-commodities trading and financing platform of Swiss startup Cerealia. Transoil and Solaris completed a sale for a 25,000 metric ton shipment of 11.5 percent protein Black Sea wheat on a FOB-loading port basis from the Russian port city of Novorossiysk. This is reportedly the first blockchain-based trade deal of Black Sea wheat, …

Crimean authorities are considering creating a blockchain-cluster in the form of a cryptocurrency investment fund to attract tech businesses to the territory. The cluster would be located within the special economic zones (SEZ) in Crimea and its largest city Sevastopol, major state-operated Russian news agency TASS reported Nov. 9. Georgy Muradov, the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Crimea under the President of the Russian Federation, shared the Crimean government’s potential plans about the blockchain-cluster and crypto fund at a meeting of the program committee of the Yalta International Economic Forum (YIEF) in Moscow, Nov. 9. Muradov underlined that in …

The chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee on Financial Markets has said that a state-backed stablecoin would be a complete equivalent to the Russian fiat ruble in a digital space, state-operated Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Nov. 7. Chairman Anatoly Aksakov said that the “crypto ruble,” which may appear after the adoption of laws regulating the cryptocurrency industry in Russia, would be “the same ruble, just in encrypted form.” The State Duma chairman explained that it would be possible to change the Russian stablecoin for the equivalent in fiat money: "For example, you bring 100 thousand rubles to a …

The chairman of Russia’s State Duma Committee on Financial Markets has claimed that the entity is considering the launch of state-backed cryptocurrency pegged to the Russian ruble, Russian radio news station Govorit Moskva reported Friday, Nov. 2. Speaking at a press conference on the increase of the household debt load, Chairman Anatoly Aksakov expressed his confidence that the government will back a cryptocurrency, “but it will be a ruble-pegged cryptocurrency.” The deputy clarified that the implied coin will represent a blockchain-powered stablecoin pegged 1:1 to the ruble. Aksakov further described the model of creating the stablecoin, stating that the cryptocurrency …