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Great Britain has claimed that the Russian government-backed hackers made an attempt to illegally obtain secret research on a coronavirus vaccine developed by Britain. Apart from the United Kingdom, the Russian intelligence allegedly targeted pharmaceutical research organizations in the United States and Canada as part of the attack.

This June, an ex-employee posted an announcement on the official website of cryptocurrency investment fund Bitsonar. According to it, the organization is a Ponzi scheme, and its founder is not the same person as the website had earlier stated. Meanwhile, users post numerous claims as to the impossibility of withdrawal of funds and suspect the […]

On June 18th, Russia’s internet and media watchdog Roskomnadzor posted a short notice saying that Telegram messenger is no longer subject to blocking in the Russian Federation. The ban that lasted for two years and has been lifted because the messenger executives agreed to cooperate with the authorities in fighting terrorism and extremism.

The U.S. president has acknowledged that the U.S. Cyber Command launched a cyberattack on a Russian media company Internet Research Agency back in 2018. The agency is colloquially known as the “troll farm” that had gained international fame through the interference of the 2016 presidential election and 2018 midterms.

The German government has urged the European Union to sanction Russian citizens responsible for the largest cyber-attack ever against the Bundestag, which was carried out in 2015. If so, the move will mark the first real use case of the so-called “EU Cyber Diplomacy Toolbox” introduced in 2017 and designed to respond to malicious cyber […]

This spring, an array of European countries faced a massive cyberattack campaign, with nearly 80 critical infrastructure institutions in Eastern and Central Europe affected. The attacks reportedly were in favor of Russia’s and China’s interests in Europe.

Cybercriminals have broken into the computer network of Westech International, the United States military contractor, that provides engineering and maintenance support for the Minuteman III nuclear deterrent. The hackers reportedly stole confidential documents from the company and now demand that it pay a ransom.

Roskomnadzor is closely studying anonymous and decentralized networks that enable bypassing the blocks imposed by the department. The ultimate goal of this study is to restrict access to such networks at the legislative level.

Russian Central Bank has approved the digital platform of Norilsk Nickel for trading tokens backed by commodities. On February 17, the Central Bank confirmed that the platform’s testing was successfully completed. It took place in the regulator’s own “sandbox.”

Binance’s founder and CEO Changpeng Zhao, 42, made his way from a small town in China to a Forbes cover and became a shy rockstar of the bitcoin-industry. Widely known as CZ, today he runs one of the biggest crypto exchanges in the world which offers a wide range of services from spot trading to […]

A new report of the investigation into the Coincheck exchange 2018 hack has revealed that the personal computers of the employees have been to have been infected by a virus originating from a Russian hacker syndicate.

Gleb Nikitin, the governor of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast in Russia stated that the region’s residents will become the country’s first to test the capabilities of blockchain tech in state governance.

Vkontakte, the biggest and most popular social media in Russia, might join the ranks of Facebook and Telegram and launch its own cryptocurrency. As reported by local publication RNS on Friday, March 29, Vkontakte is looking into the question.

The proposed law on digital assets in Russia will fail to clarify tax issues for miners after the lawmakers have removed the definition of crypto mining from the draft bill on digital currency regulation.

A draft bill that leaves crypto-to-crypto trading outside the state regulation has been filed this week in the Ukrainian parliament. The news was announced during BlockchainUA conference in Kyiv by Ukrainian MP Alexey Mushak.

The Supreme Court in Greece has ruled on Friday that the alleged owner of the now defunct Bitcoin exchange BTC-e Alexander Vinnik can be extradited to Russia, instead of the US or France, countries which also requested the his extradition.

Russian citizen Alexander who is being held in a jail in Greece could shed light on the ongoing investigation over Russia’s interference with the U.S. politics. According to a report in Bloomberg, Vinnik, 38, may be aware of how Russians in U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s crosshairs used Bitcoin to obscure their money trail.

Russian company BBFpro had two dozens of Bitcoin ATMs confiscated by law enforcement with no explanations or advance inquiry from the prosecutors.

Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) will expand its set of analysis tools with a new system allowing for data about cryptocurrency wallets tied to certain individuals.

Russia’s state development bank Vnesheconombank, also known as VEB, confirmed partnership with Chinese Huobi Group, operator of the world’s third largest cryptocurrency exchange by daily trading volume, however stressed that this collaboration does not provide for any trading platform initiatives.

Miners and holders of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Russia will be regulated under existing provisions of the existing Tax Code with no separate taxation schemes included.

According to a 29-page document released from the U.S. Department of Justice Friday, July 13, a dozen of Russian operatives were revealed to have used Bitcoin heavily to fund the DCLeaks operations and propaganda campaign.

According to the Russian Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA), the high volatility of cryptocurrencies can potentially create risks for the country’s financial stability, but these are balanced by the high concentration of ownership of the digital assets.

According to Russian media, the alleged BTC-e mastermind Alexander Vinnik has confessed to charges of fraud and money laundering on May 24, 2018. Reports reveal a signed document details that Vinnik admits to committing financial fraud between 2011-2017 through the now-defunct BTC-e cryptocurrency exchange.

A draft bill aimed at protecting the rights of cryptocurrency owners while also regulating them in line with Russian laws was introduced to parliament in March with the biggest expectation being the legalization of cryptocurrency payments. However, as local media outlets report, the expectation of making digital currencies legal tender may not come to pass.

Telegram founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, has announced that he recently started issuing bitcoin grants to individuals and companies that ran socks5 proxies and VPNs, and that he plans to donate millions of dollars this year alone in order to fund such technologies which circumvent government bans on his Telegram messaging service.

The Russian government has prepared a memo on the law “On digital financial assets” that states the “exchange of cryptocurrencies for fiat money to the amount of 600,000 rubles (around $10,000) and more has to be subject to mandatory currency control,” Russian publication Izvestiya reports.

Moscow court ordered Telegram messenger app to be blocked in Russia after failing to give the country’s Secret Service (FSB) decryption keys to access users’ messages. Telegram argues this would violate users’ privacy and that the codes constantly change.

Russia’s Ministry of Telecom and Mass Communications (MinComSvyaz) has prepared guidelines for Initial Coin Offerings (ICOs). The document, however, has already become target for heavy criticism.

Russia’s parliament members Anatoly Aksakov, Igor Divinski, and Oleg Nikolaev, as well as senator Nikolai Zhuravlev have presented a bill on digital financial assets that defines cryptocurrencies and tokens as property while banning their usage as means of payment.

Russian security officers have arrested several scientists working at a top-secret Russian nuclear warhead facility for allegedly mining crypto-currencies.

Russia’s ministry of finance is proposing to create special offshore cryptocurrency trading platforms with cities of Vladivostok and Kaliningrad considered as possible locations, deputy minister Alexei Moiseev said Friday.

Moscow-based online brokerage firm Finam will allow its customers ‎to trade bitcoin futures from Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), with CME futures coming at some point later.

Russia’s ministry of finance has published a bill on digital assets regulation, which, among other things, defines cryptocurrencies, tokens, mining, and ICO’s.

According to Arseni Scheltsin, the director of Russia’s Cryptocurrency and Blockchain Association, the proposals on creating and regulating a national cryptocurrency will be officially presented in July 2018, while a full-fledge launch would take a year after that.

Following the presentation of a drafted bill to place regulations on the usage of cryptocurrency in Russia on December 28, a list of approved cryptocurrency trading platforms is being developed by the Russian Ministry of Finance.

The ZODIAQ project, which is creating a universal financial blockchain corporation, received a banking license of category B from the Comoros Offshore Finance Authority for offshore operations.

Sberbank has become the first Russian bank to carry out a payment transaction using the blockchain technology, which allows transfers within a few seconds.

Major Russian businessmen are interested in cryptocurrencies, while one tenth of the Forbes list invest in this new kind of financial tool.

A senior official at Russia’s Central Bank insists the so called initial coin offerings (ICOs) could drive funding opportunities for startups, which is why the regulator is ready support the development of the blockchain funding model.

The deputy head of Russia’s central bank Olga Skorobogatova has stated that cryptocurrency mining as a business has to be registered and taxed. The official insists that mining is more than just production of cryptocurrencies. “Mining is validation of transactions that are represented as blocks on the blockchain. Validation is carried out by finding complex […]

In a rather peculiar twist of events, funeral marketplace TombCare has offered Gennady Zyuganov, the leader of the Communist Party of Russia, to bury Vladimir Lenin’s body and record the information on the burial ground on blockchain.

Speaking at the state-owned TV channel Russia 1, the country’s finance minister Anton Siluanov has stated that bitcoin will not replace ruble for internal settlements.

Russia’s appetite for Bitcoin has been overblown by the media, the head of Russian bank VTB International Riccardo Orcel said Tuesday.

Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank has joined Enterprise Ethereum Alliance seeking a new way to capitalize on international markets. The bank is the first Russian bank to become a member of the alliance.

Russia plans to introduce limitations to the maximum amount of purchased cryptocurrencies.

The council of judges in Saloniki has ruled on October 11th that Russian national Alexander Vinnik suspected of fraud has to be extradited to Russia. This grants the request from Russia’s general prosecutor.

In the latest twist of events, Russian government claimed it intends to “head and legally regulate” issuance and turnover of cryptocurrencies.

Russia’s president Vladimir Putin has stated that introduction of digital technologies in finance shall be subject to a thorough discussion to avoid cryptocurrency-related risks.

According to the first deputy chairman of Russia’s Central Bank Sergei Shvetsov, Russia will ban websites that offer cryptocurrency trading. He noted that the regulator’s stance towards cryptocurrencies and their derivatives was negative.

Elvira Nabiullina, the head of Russia’s Central Bank, has once again spoken against legalization of cryptocurrencies in Russia, however, she conceded that they could create a national digital currency based on blockchain technology.

Russian Mining Center, a holding co-founded by a company owned by Russian internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev, has raised $43.2 million over an ICO, thus setting a new record amount raised by a local company.

The head of Russia’s Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina strongly dismissed the proposal to legalize cryptocurrencies voiced by an unnamed entrepreneur at the meeting with the Russian president.

According to Elina Sidorenko, the head of the Russian parliament’s interdepartmental working group on cryptocurrencies, the country’s Parliament isn’t going to review the bill on legalization of cryptocurrencies anytime soon.

Managers of Burger King Russia have been called for questioning to the Public Prosecution Office of Russia on account of WhopperCoins, a virtual currency issued by the company.

Russian Anonymous Marketplace aka RAMP that has been selling drugs for bitcoin since 2012 was shut down by Russian law enforcement.

The Bank of Russia believes admitting cryptocurrencies or any other financial instruments associated with digital currencies to trading and turnover in Russia’s clearing infrastructure is premature.

Last week, Russian police arrested three men for illegally trading in 500 million rubles worth of bitcoin, or around $9 million worth of the cryptocurrency. Arrests were made approximately 260 miles northeast of Moscow in the city of Kostroma. 

The chief internet advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin has announced the creation of a new association focused on blockchain and cryptocurrency.

Russia’s ministry of finance intends to ban selling bitcoins to individuals, the deputy minister of finance Alexei Moiseev stated in his interview with Rossiya-24 news channel.

Burger King’s Russian division has announced it is now offering Whoppercoin, its own cryptocurrency named after the signature burger serves by the company.

According to Vedomosti that reference their unnamed sources at the ISO (International Standardization Organization), Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) is represented in the special committee for blockchain standardization.

Eccentric Russian entrepreneur German Sterligov has announced that he is going to open the first official bitcoin store in Russia. However, this advocate of ‘spiritual bonds’ notes that bitcoin prices at his store will always be higher than those on the market.

According to Russian Economic Development Minister Maksim Oreshkin, the global development of cryptocurrencies resembles a pyramid scheme.

Russia’s National Settlement Depository (NSD) is considering building a platform to serve digital assets including cryptocurrencies and tokenized assets.

Alexander Vinnik, 38, was detained in Greece yesterday on the charges of laundering $4 billion with bitcoins. Local media reports that he might be connected to BTC-e, a cryptocurrency exchange used predominantly by the Russian-speaking community, that recently went offline.

This spring an interdepartmental working group on cryptocurrencies in Russia has started working on a bill that would legalize cryptocurrencies in the country. There are numerous rumors and talks concerning this paper, however, nobody actually has any reliable and systematic information in this regard.

Russia’s business ombudsman Boris Titov offered Elvira Nabiullina, the chairwoman of the country’s central bank, to use Japan’s experience in cryptocurrency regulation.

Alpari Group, Russia’s largest native forex broker, has joined growing list of international derivatives markets that offer cryptocurrency trading products announcing the launch of two bitcoin trading pairs, with the company now offering BTC/USD and BTC/EUR CFDs to traders.

Russian parliament plans to review a bill that legalizes cryptocurrencies this September. According to Elina Sidorenko, the head of the parliament’s working group of cryptocurrencies, the bill, however, does not include provisions as to tax regulation of virtual money.

According to Russian state-owned news agency TASS, the country will open the first competence center for blockchain research under the auspicies of Russia’s state-owned bank VEB, as well as experts from Ethereum and Exonum, which is BitFury’s platform.

Vadim Dengin, a member of the Russian parliament’s working group on cryptocurrencies, that the issue of regulating cryptocurrencies in Russia will be brought up for discussion during parliamentary hearings.

Russian division of popular fast food franchise Burger King has announced it is developing software to accept bitcoins. The cryptocurrency option is expected to be rolled out by the end of 2017. “The company plans to announce the winner of the tender for development of software that would enable us to accept bitcoins. The contractor […]

Russia is experiencing a severe shortage of graphics cards supply. As reported by Russian publication Vedomosti, computer hardware stores are nearly out of them.

Russia’s deputy minister of finance Alexei Moiseev has stated that users who conduct cryptocurrency transactions have to be identified. According to RNS, the official also believes that cryptocurrencies could be classified as “other property” as described in the country’s civil code.

According to Alla Bakina, the head of the Central Bank’s department of national payments system, the regulator is working on applying financial technologies to create a national cryptocurrency and regulate other cryptocurrencies and exchange platforms.

According to Sergei Shvetsov, the first deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia, a local Russian exchange may start cryptocurrency trading.

Blockchain will see mass adoption in seven to ten years at least, Deputy Chairwoman of Russian Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova believes.

Elvira Nabiullina, the head of Russia’s Central Bank, says the regulator is analyzing introduction of bitcoin regulation, however, it doesn’t want to hurry things since it sees a lot of inherent risks. Speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, she told CNBC: “We’re analyzing now this possibility and I think we should understand more […]

ChronoPay, one of Russia’s oldest online payments providers, is including bitcoin to its payment gateway, enabling all of its clients to accept the world’s most popular cryptocurrency.

Physicists at the Russian Quantum Center have created and tested the world’s first ‘quantum blockchain,’ an unhackable system for distributed data storage.

According to Olga Skorobogatova, the deputy chairwoman of the Central Bank of Russia, the Bank of Russia is going to consider bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies a digital commodity.

ZrCoin, the first tokenized factory in Russia, has raised nearly $1.4 million from 800 investors on the first day of its ICO, with $300,000 being the highest investment. As of now, the sum of raised amounts has surpassed $1.6 million.

Russian payments service provider QIWI has purchased fintech accelerator InspiRUSSIA which mostly focuses on developing blockchain-based solutions. As reported by TASS, the amount of the deal remains undisclosed.

Kolionovo Ecosystem, a project aimed at creation and a large-scale testing of the model of the local economy and raising funds for the development of real production of agricultural goods and services, announced it successfully concluded its crowdfunding campaign raising $510,533.

Valentin Katasonov, a Russian economist and professor at the international finance chair at the Moscow State Institute for Foreign Relations, has claimed that Western intelligence services are behind cryptocurrencies.

A blockchain-based platform for intellectual property management first announced in Russia in late 2016 may be released by efforts of Skolkovo Foundation, banks, a handful of Russian universities and societies for collective management of rights.

According to Alexei Moiseev, deputy minister for Russia’s ministry of finance, the department has no plans to issue licenses for bitcoin sales.

According to Elina Sidorenko, the head of Russian Central Bank’s working group on cryptocurrencies, Russian legislators intend to make mining regulation as friendly as possible, however, selling mined bitcoins still might put people to jail.

According to Elina Sidorenko, the head of the Russian Central Bank’s working group on cryptocurrencies, products incorporating blockchain technology should be a part of the legal terrain, while the technology itself should remain beyond regulation.

The Russian parliament is preparing a bill that, if passed, may legalize e-cash and establish legal grounds to open regulated cryptocurrency exchanges, according to Elina Sidorenko, the head of the the Russian Central Bank’s working group on cryptocurrencies.

Russia’s internet ombudsman Dmitry Marinichev insists that the recent actions of Antpool are nothing else but a provocative demarche that only Chinese miners might find profitable.

According to Boris Titov, the chairman of Russia’s Partiya Rosta (‘the Party of Growth’) and Russia’s business ombudsman, the network community titled People of Growth is set to unite entrepreneurs, self-employed individuals, young people and minor officials to raise funds for their business projects and make cryptocurrency investment.

Eduard Surkov’s club farm Mashkino in Central Russia has announced its plans to issue cryptocurrency tokens backed by the farm’s products, i.e. chickens, ducks, geese, lambs, and goatlings.

Bitcoin currently poses no risk to the Russian financial system, the country’s deputy finance minister Alexei Moiseev said.

The technological revolution including cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology is boggling the minds of the contemporaries, launching the most daring and fantastic scenarios of our civilization’s future. Talking with ForkLog, a well-known Russian visionary, composer, venture investor and founder of corporate group Familia Alexander Shulgin shared his vision of blockchain technology and the system of tomorrow’s […]

Elman Mekhtiyev, executive VP of the Russian Banking Association, believes that implementing blockchain in processes that are already working fine makes little sense. According to Mekhtiyev, it’s too early to say the technology would prevail until there is a particular case where blockchain is better than centralized solutions.

One of Russia’s biggest banks, Alpha Bank, has introduced a mobile app Potok that allows recording online interviews while applying for a loan. The app was created in cooperation with BlockNotary, a blockchain startup developing tools to solve problems related to compliance with KYC and AML requirements.

Elina Sidorenko, head of Russian State Duma (Parliament) working group on assessment of cryptocurrency risks, admits there’s not much to say about legalization of cryptocurrencies die to the legal vacuum.