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Russian Crypto Exchange Moves Money for Gaza Groups, Report
16.10.2023
Palestinian militant organizations, including a Hamas-linked Islamist group, have been using a Moscow-based crypto exchange to transfer millions, a press report revealed. The U.S.-sanctioned platform, which allows customers to convert Russian cash to crypto and then withdraw fiat abroad, has been...
Russian Business Titan Sber to Join Digital Ruble Pilot
16.10.2023
Russia’s Sber, the operator of Sberbank, says it will join the Central Bank’s digital ruble pilot, in a major coup for the nation’s CBDC.
Vedemosti reported that Sber’s influential CEO, the former Economy Minister Herman Gref, said his firm “will definitely” join a “second wave” of banks that will...
Moscow Exchange Plans to Issue Real Estate Digital Assets by 2024
14.10.2023
The Moscow Exchange, the largest exchange in Russia, has announced plans to issue real estate digital assets in 2024. According to Sergei Kharinov, director of digital assets for the platform, this will lower the entry barrier for qualified and unqualified investors to put part of their portfolio...
Russian Attackers May Have Been Behind Hack of Sam Bankman-Fried’s FTX, Elliptic Says
12.10.2023
Research firm Elliptic said some of the stolen funds appear to be linked to Russian cybercriminal groups, citing on-chain analysis
Russia Could Use Digital Ruble to Evade SWIFT, Wants Foreign Banks to Use its CBDC
12.10.2023
Russia’s Central Bank thinks its digital ruble could let citizens pay abroad without making use of the SWIFT banking platform – and wants to let foreign banks use its CBDC.
Per the Russian IT-focused media outlet CNews, the Central Bank has drafted a bill that, if passed, would allow foreign banks...
More Russian Banks Say They’ll Join Digital Ruble Pilot – CBDC Advances?
11.10.2023
More Russian banks will join the digital ruble pilot, with Center-invest Bank, which mainly operates in the nation’s south, set to trial the CBDC next year.
Per Rostov Gazeta, Center-invest Bank has “signed a digital ruble [partnership] agreement with the [CBDC’s] operator, the Central Bank.”
The...
Billionaire Paul Tudor Jones Sees ‘Most Threatening’ Geopolitical Environment — Warns of China, Russia, Iran
11.10.2023
Billionaire investor Paul Tudor Jones has warned of the effects of the geopolitical uncertainty around four nuclear powers, including China, Russia, and Iran. “It might be the most threatening and challenging geopolitical environment that I’ve ever seen,” Jones stressed. “It...
Estonia-Licensed Crypto Firms Blamed for €1 Billion in Damages
10.10.2023
Bad actors exploited Estonia’s once liberal licensing regime for crypto companies to defraud investors and commit other crimes, an investigative report claims. The authors say they discovered dozens of such cases, including scams and schemes for sanctions evasion and money laundering. Since Tallinn...
Texas Securities Board Targets Fraud Crypto Project Touting Ties With Russian Government
6.10.2023
The Texas State Securities Board has stopped a decentralized lending pool from sales of securities, after the firm touted its ties with the Russian government.
Travis J. Iles, the securities Commissioner of the Lone Star State, has written an emergency cease and desist notice to immediately stop...
Estonian Crypto Firms Engage in ‘Massive-Scale’ Fraud and Aid Russia Evade Sanctions: Report
6.10.2023
Estonia has been one of the early receivers of cryptocurrency licenses in the EU, but it did not save the Baltic nation from falling victim to ‘massive-scale’ crypto-related fraud and scams, an investigation report from international journalists revealed....
Read More: Estonian Crypto Firms Engage...
Binance Russian Users Are Moving to Other Platforms, Not Just CommEx: Report
4.10.2023
A significant number of Binance's Russian clients have migrated to alternative platforms, not only to the platform's new owner CommEx.
The shift is evident from the decreased activity in peer-to-peer (p2p) operations, Dmitry Stepanin, the CEO of Satoshkin, said in a recent interview with local...
Russian Corporations Using Digital Ruble as CBDC Pilot Gathers Pace
4.10.2023
Russian corporations are starting to make use of the digital ruble, the country’s central bank digital currency (CBDC).
Per a report from SPB IT RU, the state-run Sirius Innovation Science and Technology Center has opened a corporate digital ruble wallet.
The center has already used its wallet...
Russian Banker States SWIFT ‘Needs to Be Killed’
3.10.2023
Andrei Kostin, head of the VTB Bank, one of the biggest banks in Russia, has stated that the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT), the standard messaging system for fiat payments, “needs to be killed.” Kostin remarked that the actions of the U.S. and...
Bank of Russia Digital Ruble Pilot Update: ‘Everything Going as Planned’
3.10.2023
The Bank of Russia offered an update about the state of the digital ruble, the Russian central bank digital currency (CBDC), which is currently in a nationwide pilot. Elvira Nabiullina, governor of the Bank of Russia, stated that the pilot was “going as planned” and that more...
Moscow Claims Russia Will Be Using Digital Ruble in LATAM by 2025
3.10.2023
A senior Russian politician says domestic firms will be using the digital ruble, the nation’s CBDC, in Latin America no later than 2025.
The comments were made by Anatoly Aksakov, the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Markets.
Per Tass, Aksakov, who is also the MP...
Here’s How Much Russia’s Biggest Banks Are Spending on CBDC Integration
2.10.2023
Rosbank, one of Russia’s biggest banks, has spent around $1.6 million on digital ruble integration – despite the fact that the CBDC pilot is less than two months old.
The bank is one of Russia’s most bullish when it comes to CBDC and crypto adoption.
Prior to the August launch of the digital...
CommEX Says They Are Not Owned by Binance, But Some Core Members Are Ex-Binance Veterans
29.9.2023
CommEx, the firm that has recently acquired Binance's Russian division, has said that it is not owned by Binance but disclosed that some of its core members are the exchange's previous employees.
In a Friday open letter, CommEx claimed it is an independent entity separate from Binance despite...
Binance Russia buyer tightlipped on owners but denies CZ involvement
29.9.2023
Binance’s buyer in Russia, CommEx, has been developing its platform for six months and has onboarded some ex-Binance employees, the firm said
Russian Business Leaders Talk Up Prospects of a BRICS Digital Fiat
29.9.2023
Russian business leaders want to use “digital assets” and a “single digital currency” to trade with BRICS members and other “friendly” nations.
Experts in Brazil have previously claimed that a BRICS digital fiat could launch within the next five to 10 years.”
Per the media outlet Bankovskoye...
Binance Ending Operations in Russia — Crypto Exchange to Focus on 100+ Other Countries
29.9.2023
Crypto exchange Binance is closing down all exchange services and business lines in Russia. The company has entered into a sales agreement with Commex. A Binance executive explained that operating in Russia is not compatible with the company’s compliance strategy. “We remain confident in...