Tagged: russia

June 8, 2020 @ 7:42 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Berlin-headquartered Vivid Money, a digital banking service provider that’s supported by Russia’s Tinkoff Bank, launched on June 8, 2020 through a partnership with solarisBank and payments giant Visa. Vivid Money says it’s the first mobile-based, full-service banking solution, providing cashback incentives, sub-accounts in major foreign… Read More

June 3, 2020 @ 9:22 am By JD Alois  |  

Factorin, a trade finance platform using blockchain, reports that it has “transformed” the trade finance market in Russia in one year since launch. According to a company release, Factorin has garnered relationships with 30 different banking entities, processed 246,000 invoices with transactional turnover exceeding $500… Read More

May 28, 2020 @ 10:11 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Russia’s largest banking institution, Sberbank, has reportedly called on local suppliers to provide 4,917 ATMs that come with built-in graphic cards that can perform “blockchain operations.” According to industry experts, these graphic cards would most likely be used for mining decentralized cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC)…. Read More

May 19, 2020 @ 10:27 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

  Wirex, a UK-based payments platform, announced on Tuesday it is diversifying its funding options by allowing customers in Russia to fund their accounts by allowing top-ups using domestic bank cards. According to Wirex, users may now link their bank-issued credit or debit card to… Read More

April 16, 2020 @ 10:03 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Russian banking group Sberbank announced earlier this week it is launching an anti-crisis support platform, SberUnity, that is specifically for SMEs. According to Sberbank, SberUnity was created to help businesses find new solutions and transform their companies from offline to online ones. Sberbank also claims… Read More

April 3, 2020 @ 3:57 pm By Samantha Hurst  |  

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reportedly arrested Russian rapper Maxim Boyko for cryptocurrency laundering. According to the Moscow Times, Boyok was arrested at a Miami condo this past weekend. The Affidavit submitted to support Boyko’s arrest revealed that the rapper “knowingly and intentionally conspire… Read More

April 1, 2020 @ 7:41 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The planned introduction of Russia’s cryptocurrency laws and regulations have been delayed again, due to the Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. Anatoly Aksakov, chairman at the Russian State Duma committee on financial markets, claims that the nation’s virtual currency law, the bill “On Digital Financial Assets,” has… Read More

March 19, 2020 @ 9:34 am By JD Alois  |  

Earlier this week Alexey Guznov, Director of the Legal Department of the Bank of Russia, was interviewed by Interfax on a diverse range of topics. The discussion also included the regulatory approach to digital assets and pending legislation. Currently, there is draft legislation in the… Read More

February 17, 2020 @ 3:55 pm By JD Alois  |  

The Central Bank of Russia issued a release this week indicating a pilot project leveraging blockchain for the issuance of “digital rights” has been completed. The intent is to allow the tokenization of goods, services, and other assets including securities. Draft legislation is expected soon…. Read More

February 3, 2020 @ 3:51 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

The fourth quarter of 2019 saw Russia’s citizens perform more digital payments than transacting with cash (for the first time ever), state-owned Sberbank confirmed. Moscow-based Sberbank conducted the market research as part of its SberData initiative, revealing that Russian residents performed 50.4% of total transfers… Read More

January 21, 2020 @ 7:42 am By Samantha Hurst  |  

Russian banking group Sberbank announced on Tuesday its loyal program is now allowing users to send reward points to each other. According to Sberbank, all loyalty program members, besides those who are at the lowest Spasibo privilege level, will be entitled to transfer points from… Read More

December 27, 2019 @ 6:53 am By Omar Faridi  |  

The Bank of Russia, the nation’s central bank, is reportedly testing various stablecoins, which are pegged to major fiat currencies or other types of real-world assets in a regulatory sandbox environment. Head of the Russian reserve bank, Elvira Nabiullina, says that the institution does not… Read More

December 4, 2019 @ 8:38 am By Cali Haan  |  

Evidence unearthed by the BBC Russia suggests that the FSB, Russia’s military intelligence agency, is behind the disappearance of $450 million USD worth of cryptocurrency from the WEX cryptocurrency exchange. Much of that money belonged to exchange customers. Other parts of the story suggest the… Read More

November 9, 2019 @ 2:55 pm By Cali Haan  |  

Elvira Nabiullina, governor at the Bank of Russia since 2013, told the Russian parliament this week that she supports Fintech innovations but opposes private currencies like Facebook’s Libra because they pose a threat to financial stability. She also said she and the bank are monitoring… Read More

October 31, 2019 @ 4:45 am By Cali Haan  |  

Three of the biggest cryptocurrency exchanges in the world are seeking licenses and banking partners to set up in the Ukraine, Andriy Kolodiuk, Chair of the supervisory board of the Ukrainian Venture Capital and Private Equity Association (UVCA), told the Kyiv Post this week. He… Read More

October 22, 2019 @ 3:02 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Malta-based digital asset exchange Binance is planning to launch its first fiat-to-cryptocurrency trading pairs. While attending the Open Innovations 2019 conference in Moscow this week, Binance CEO Changpeng “CZ” Zhao said that fiat-to-crypto options would be introduced soon, starting with the Russian ruble. Zhao stated:… Read More

October 18, 2019 @ 8:38 pm By Omar Faridi  |  

Sberbank Rossii PAO (MCX:SBER) and Microsoft Research (MSR) announced a joint initiative to explore the use of Microsoft’s artificial intelligence (AI) solutions in robotics. The project involves training robots to interact with real-world objects in the same way that humans do. Researchers at Sberbank will… Read More

October 18, 2019 @ 6:59 pm By Roman Buzko and Mariam Gordiashvili  |  

The new law regulating crowdfunding in Russia will enter into force on January 1, 2020. Existing platforms must comply by July 1, 2020. Federal Law No. 259-FZ “On Investments Through Investment Platforms and Certain Amendments to Other Laws of the Russian Federation” dated August 2,… Read More

October 13, 2019 @ 10:37 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Marco Polo, a trade finance blockchain that has partnered over 20 banks, is testing its first trade deal between Germany and Russia. The company’s pilot was announced on October 11.  Russian’s Alfa-Bank and Novolipetsk Steel Company (NLMK) will take part in the pilot. Germany’s Commerzbank… Read More

September 13, 2019 @ 9:36 am By Omar Faridi  |  

Russia’s largest financial institution Sberbank has reportedly purchased around $15 million worth of accounts receivable from Trafigura, a Singaporean commodity trading firm that leverages blockchain technology. The pilot transaction was conducted on the Hyperledger Fabric platform, according to a representative from Sberbank. The blockchain-based purchase… Read More