Cross-border crypto payments in the Russian Federation and recognition of cryptocurrencies by the IMF. Main events of the week

The bitcoin exchange rate has risen by 3,03% over the past seven days. The asset reached the highest values on September 9, when 1 BTC was trading at $20 800, the lowest values were registered on September 7 — $18 510 per one coin. As of September 9 at 10:10 UTC, bitcoin exchange rate is $20 741 (according to Binance).

The value of the second most capitalized cryptocurrency, Ethereum, has risen 6,33% in the past seven days to $1694. The native token of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance (BNB) is up 3,66% and is trading at $289,1.

The total capitalization of the crypto market increased from $1,022 trillion to $1,028 trillion for the week, with bitcoin dominating 35,95%. Ethereum's share is 19,14%.

Russian crypto market news: DFAs, digital ruble and cross-border payments

Vladimir Gutenev, a deputy from the United Russia party, said that reports on the possible legalization of cross-border crypto payments and the construction of new BitRiver data centers in Buryatia and Yakutia confirm the need for cryptocurrencies to circumvent sanctions restrictions. In this, Gutenev noted that the only possible cryptocurrency in Russia should be backed by real assets, such as “stablecoin or the golden ruble.”

On September 6, Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev announced the creation of clearing platforms for cross-border payments in stablecoins, secured by real assets. Russia is working on the project with some friendly countries. The deputy minister also noted that stablecoins could be tied to some universally recognized instrument, “for example, gold. He added that such an innovation would require additional regulation, and the department is only looking for approaches to it, as there are no ready-made solutions.

Russia’s VTB Bank began testing operations to buy digital financial assets (DFAs) for digital rubles. The next step will be the launch of the exchange of non-cash rubles into digital ones. VTB moted that this could happen as early as 2023. Analysts at VTB believe that the launch of the digital ruble could accelerate cash turnover in the country by 3-7%. The final indicators will depend on the convenience of the Bank of Russia’s platform and the degree of payment infrastructure development.

Russian Technologies State Corporation (Rostec) will develop a project to integrate cryptocurrencies into cross-border payments. The company noted that this move will reduce the sanctions pressure on Russian companies conducting export and import operations. The cryptocurrency integration project will be tested in the Far East, on Russky Island, as part of an experimental legal regime for electronic trading.

Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina said that the regulator intends to promote the possibility of cross-border payments using the digital ruble. She stressed that many banks are actively involved in the experiment to implement the digital ruble, which will last until 2023. By next year, the regulator plans to conduct a separate type of operation in limited amounts for the further gradual introduction of the digital ruble into monetary circulation.

The Ministry of Finance allowed the possibility of export payments in cryptocurrency. Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev believes that it is best to choose platforms with high liquidity to pay for exports. He also stressed that the current rules do not prohibit this method of payment.

IMF recognizes the importance of digital assets

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that over the past few years, crypto assets have evolved from “niche products” into widespread financial instruments. At the same time, digital assets began to be used more frequently for speculative purposes, which led to the need for increased comprehensive regulation of the sphere.

The IMF advocated a coordinated, coherent and comprehensive global framework for regulating digital assets. Such an approach should “bring order to the markets and help instill consumer confidence.”

SEC plans to transfer crypto market regulator functions to the CFTC

SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said he would support a bill that would give more authority to the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to oversee certain cryptocurrencies. Gensler added that the regulator needs more authority to “regulate nonsecurity tokens and related intermediaries.”

Earlier, leaders of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, which oversees the CFTC, proposed a bill to give the commission oversight of the two largest cryptocurrencies, bitcoin and Ethereum.

Crypto lobbyists believe the CFTC should become the industry's primary regulator. In their view, SEC rules for traditional securities such as stocks and bonds are not appropriate because cryptocurrencies are not organized like traditional corporations with shareholders.

Ethereum upgrade

After Ethereum developers activated the Bellatrix upgrade on September 6, technical problems were recorded on the network. Thus, the blockchain’s missed block rate increased by 1700%. Typically, this figure is 0,5%, but after Bellatrix, it increased to 9%. Some Ethereum developers believe that the spike in missed blocks may be due to operators who have not yet updated the software to the actual version.

SEBA Bank, a Swiss cryptocurrency bank, launched ETH staking for large customers ahead of the network upgrade. The offer allows institutional users to receive monthly rewards for owning an asset.

On September 5, a website appeared on the network distributing VOTEFORK tokens, supposedly needed to vote on the Ethereum 2.0 upgrade. The site’s domain was registered on September 3. The transfer of VOTEFORK tokens was recorded from the wallet of Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, but he himself has not yet commented or confirmed this information in any way.

Blockchain explorer Etherscan marked the VOTEFORK token as potentially dangerous because the creator of the asset misrepresented its origin. The platform's developers warned that the asset could be used for spam or phishing.

On September 7, representatives of Uniswap exchange announced their support of Ethereum upgrade, adding that they do not plan to support any other forks of the network.

Stablecoin news

From September 29, Binance will begin automatic conversion of existing and new USDC, USDP and TUSD stablecoin deposits into its own stablecoin BUSD at a ratio of 1:1.

The company says the move will increase liquidity and capital efficiency for the platform's clients. The innovations will not affect the withdrawal of funds, users will still be able to choose the stablecoin they need.

NFT and metaverse news

Ahead of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, the Sports Association FIFA announced the opening of its own NFT marketplace. The platform, FIFA+Collect will launch in late September. It will sell NFTs that depict famous soccer moments and other digital artwork related to the sport. FIFA will gradually announce the release of new collections. The marketplace itself will run on the Algorand blockchain, back in May the network became the official partner of the football organization.

One of South Korea’s four national broadcasters, MBC (Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation) entered into a partnership with The Sandbox metaverse on September 2. As part of the collaboration, MBC will create a virtual office building, production studios, and other content for users of The Sandbox.

The South Korean subsidiary of automaker Renault also entered into a partnership with The Sandbox metaverse. As part of the partnership, customers of Renault Korea Motors will get new ways to use their automobiles in the metaverse.

Franklin Templeton, an investment firm with $1,5 trillion in assets under management, announced the launch of an exchange-traded fund called the Franklin Metaverse UCITS ETF focused on projects in the field of metaverses. The ETF repeats the dynamics of the Solactive Global Metaverse Innovation Net Total Return Index and consists of assets from companies that have (or are expected to have) a significant impact on the development of metaverses and blockchain technologies.

Yakutia presented the Digital Reindeer Herder project at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF). The project aims to provide herders' camps with access to the Internet, create special courses for reindeer herders, and help those who have been trained to find a job. The developers in a collaboration with a 3D-sculptor Nyurgun Ogotoev have created an NFT collection, which consists of 8 reindeer.

The Soyuzmultfilm film studio announced plans to develop computer games based on the Polygon blockchain platform. The games will involve cartoon characters in the form of NFT tokens. The idea of the studio is to attract to Soyuzmultfilm not only children but also young people who often spend time playing computer games.

From the world of mining

According to The Block Research, bitcoin mining revenue rose by 10% for the first time since March. Most of the $629,45 million in revenues came from the block reward, while $8,98 million came from transaction fees. In total, miners earned $657 million in August. Since January 2022, the difficulty of mining the asset jumped 9,26%, while the hashrate rose by more than 13% over the same period.

Ethereum miners generated $756 million in revenue in August, which is 37% more than in July ($545 million). Just over $30 million of that amount was transaction fees and $726 million was rewards per mined block. August was the last month of Ethereum mining. Between September 10 and September 20, as part of The Merge upgrade, the blockchain will switch from the Proof-of-Work (PoW) consensus algorithm to Proof-of-Stake (PoS), after which PoW mining on Ethereum will no longer be possible.

BitRiver, an operator of mining centers, entered into a partnership with JSC “Development Corporation of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia)” and LLC “Yakutsk Electric Grid Company” to build a data center in the Mirninsky district of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia). The deal will help the development of the high-tech labor market and digital economy in Yakutia. Besides, the project will bring additional tax revenues to the regional budget.

Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said that within a few weeks, the Ministry of Finance and the Bank of Russia may agree on a position on the regulation of cryptocurrency mining. After the agencies come to a common position, the bill could be submitted to the State Duma and supported by it during this year's fall session. The document will specify all the basic issues related to the field of mining.

On September 2, miners transferred 4400 BTC ($90,92 million at current exchange rates) to the Binance cryptocurrency, according to analytics platform QryptoQuant. The transaction came from the Poolin mining pool. This is the fourth largest transaction from miners to exchanges in the last two months.

Predictions on cryptocurrency rates

Cryptocurrency analyst Kevin Svenson warned of a possible downward movement of bitcoin. According to him, the US dollar soared to its highest level in 20 years, and bitcoin fell below the diagonal support level that has kept the asset afloat since its June lows of $17 600. If the dynamics continue, bitcoin could hit lows of $18 600.

Peter Schiff, head of brokerage firm Euro Pacific Capital, said that bitcoin's support at $20 000 is not real and will end up being a false bottom. According to him, such a value will give short-sighted investors the opportunity to “climb aboard a sinking ship” and lead to the loss of funds.

Former BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange CEO, Arthur Hayes stated that fiat currencies and gold will not help protect capital in war conditions. According to Hayes, only bitcoin will be able to become a protective medium, and goods will be priced in it in free markets.

New materials in GetBlock Magazine's knowledge base