Russia | ForkLog - Part 118

ForkLog 59 03.02.2016

Russian Ministry of Finance Says Bitcoin Could Threaten National Security

According to Russian Ministry of Finance, the so-called money surrogates, a term usually encompassing cryptocurrencies, may be a threat both to the country’s economy and national security.

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ForkLog 59 30.01.2016

Why Russian Government Should Forget about the Blockchain Technology

Last week, Russia’s ‘official’ bitcoin enthusiast and, as a second job, the head of Sberbank, German Gref, has finally found an ally, Alexei Kurdin, former minister for finance. A bit earier, speaking at Gaidar Forum, Gref stated that “all government systems, and education, including everything from kindergartens to universtities, have to be changed in the […]

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ForkLog 44 22.01.2016

Russia: Former Minister for Finance and Sberbank Chairman Speak about Blockchain’s Potential

During the business lunch at Sberbank of Russia, the bank’s chairman German Gref and former minister for finance of Russia Alexei Kudrin shared their vision of blockchain’s potential in Russia. In particular, they described the way the technology could possibly alter the country’s public management. According to Interfax Russia, Alexei Kudrin said: “Basing on what […]

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ForkLog 58 21.01.2016

Russia Allegedly Blocks Access to Yet Another Bitcoin Exchange

Following the self-inflicted ban of Bitstamp, Russia-based users cannot access one of the biggest bitcoin exchanges, BTC-e. Notably, the block did not cover all regions of the country as yet. The screenshots provided hereunder show what Moscow-based users may see when attempting to access the website. However, we managed to access both sites from other […]

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ForkLog 45 19.01.2016

Russia-based Bank to Launch a Blockchain Accelerator

According to an article posted by Bankir.ru, Tatfondband creates a fintech lab in Kazan (Tatarstan, Russia) in cooperation with venture investment fund Life.SREDA. The companies expect the companies selected for acceleration will engage in development of blockchain-related services.

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ForkLog 33 19.01.2016

Russian Senator States Propagation of Cryptocurrency is Inevitable

Lyudmila Bokova, deputy chairwoman at Russian Federation Council’s costitutional committee, states that propagation of cryptocurrencies in Russia shall be deemed inevitable. For that reason, she believes, the government should consider regulating cryptocurrency instead of bannning it. Last week, the head of Russian Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin stated that his agency insists on introducing criminal penalties […]

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ForkLog 169 18.01.2016

Everything You Wanted to Know About Current State of Bitcoin in Russia (But Were Afraid to Ask)

Recent development of affairs in Russia may signify that Russian officials have divided into two camps. While usually depicted as a monolith, Russian government en masse incorporates two opposing groups, usually dubbed securocrats and techlibs (an acronym for technology liberals). The former usually have something to do with various law enforcement or intelligence agencies, while […]

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ForkLog 41 15.01.2016

Head of Russian Investigative Committee Calls for Making Cryptocurrency Operations a Crime

Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russian Investigative Committee, promises to make cryptocurrency operations criminally punishable. He stated that in his interview to Russian government publication Rossiyskaya Gazeta, speaking about his agency’s combat with corruption, terrorism, cryptocurrency, and Ponzi schemes. “It is necessary to fight against varuous soap bubbles on financial market, namely finanical tools not backed […]

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ForkLog 27 15.01.2016

Russian Ministry of Finance Prepares a New Revision of Anti-Cryptocurrency Draft Law

Russian Ministry of Finance has finalized its own draft law concerning the ban of so-called ‘money surrogates’. It intends to submit it to the government’s reviewing. The ministry proceeded with development of the draft law as eary as August 2014. However, the document received numerous criticisms and was revised several times. The ministry justifies its […]

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ForkLog 38 11.01.2016

Draft Law on Money Surrogates to be Reviewed by the Russian Parliament in February

Members of Russian legislative assembly, the State Duma, may review a new draft edition of the Administrative Violations Code in the first reading as early as this February. The draft law implies de-facto legalization of operations with bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. The legislative initiative has been submitted to the State Duma in late 2015. Previously […]

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ForkLog 118 02.01.2016

A Brief History of Russian Internet Obscurantism in 2015

The year 2015 was marked as the year of expanding obscurantism and controversies around several internet-related issues in Russia. According to one of relatively new Russian laws, the state supervising agency Roskomnadzor has the right to restrict or prohibit access to any website at its own discretion and without any court rulings. The agency was […]

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ForkLog 61 27.12.2015

Yandex Technology Distribution Executive Praises the Blockchain Technology

Speaking at conference Feedback on December 23, Grigori Bakunov, technology distribution executive at Yandex, introduced several possible major technological trends for the forthcoming years. Among other things, they include the blockchain technology, the internet of things, and artificial intelligence. Explaining his views on smart objects and bitcoin, Bakunov said: “Thank god, people realized bitcoin was […]

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