Russia
Russia Blocks Instagram Amid Widening Social Media Crackdown
(AP) — Russian regulators said Friday that internet users will be blocked from accessing Instagram because it’s being used to call for violence against Russian soldiers, in Moscow’s latest move to tighten up access to foreign social platforms. The communications and media regulator, Roskomnadzor, said in a statement that it’s restricting national access to Instagram because the platform is spreading “calls to commit violent acts against Russian citizens, including military personnel.” Facebook parent Meta Platforms, which also owns Instagram, didn’t respond immediately to a request for comment. Roskomnadzor specifically cited a Thursday tweet by Meta spokesman Andy Stone conveying a company statement saying it had “made allowances for forms of political expression that would normally viola...
Bitfinex refuses to freeze crypto belonging to non-sanctioned Russians
Amid global businesses boycotting the Russian residents over military conflict in Ukraine, some companies in the cryptocurrency industry stand up for the rights of non-sanctioned Russian citizens. Bitfinex, an affiliate firm of the world’s largest stablecoin provider, Tether (USDT), will not unilaterally freeze the accounts of ordinary Russian customers as part of the global sanctions unless it’s forced to do so, a spokesperson for Bitfinex told Cointelegraph on Thursday. The representative emphasized that Bitfinex has taken appropriate action against the accounts of Russian users who have been sanctioned. “As with all our customer accounts, we work to ensure that there are no irregular movements or measures that might be in contravention of applicable international sanctions,” the s...
FBI director: Russia overestimates its ability to bypass US sanctions using crypto
Christopher Wray, the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, said that fiat was a more likely avenue for Russia to explore in circumventing sanctions, given the United States’ ability to block efforts using crypto. In a Thursday hearing of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich asked the FBI director if Russia might respond to the economic impact of the United States banning imports of the country’s oil and gas by using reserves of gold, China’s currency or cryptocurrency. Director Wray said the FBI and its partners had “built up significant expertise” on digital assets, citing the department’s recent work in seizing large amounts of tokens as evidence there were vulnerabilities in using crypto to get around sanctions. “The Rus...
Bridgewater’s Rebecca Patterson believes the Ukraine situation will speed up growth in the crypto sector
Patterson said that crypto is currently liquid sensitive and has a long way to evolve She held that the Russia-Ukraine standoff should speed up growth in the crypto space In her opinion, the momentum in crypto could become self-fulfilling as more investors join in Bridgewater Associates’ Chief Investment Strategist Rebecca Patterson has predicted that the current situation in Russia-Ukraine will only speed up the overall growth of ecosystems around digital assets. Speaking to CNBC’s Closing Bell, the investment manager noted that this is a significant moment for crypto as it is the first time the digital asset has been used as a geopolitical tool, unlike capital markets that have, in the past, been caught up in the midst of a geopolitical crisis. Patterson added that crypt...
Spotify Suspends Premium Accounts in Russia
Spotify has suspended its premium accounts in Russia after the country’s invasion of Ukraine, a company executive said on Wednesday (March 9). Paul Vogel, the streaming platform’s CFO, said the shutdown would result in a loss of about 1.5 million paying customers in the first quarter of 2022, Variety reported. That is not expected to be material for the company: Russia represents less than 1% of Spotify’s total revenue of 9.67 billion euros ($10.93 billion) in 2021, up 22.7% from 2020. In the wake of Russia’s attack on Ukraine, Spotify said last Wednesday that it was closing its office in Russia and removing content from state-sponsored broadcasters RT and Sputnik. The platform has been unable to add new premium accounts or to run advertising in Russia since credit card companies Visa, Mas...
Elizabeth Warren is drafting legislation to check Russian activity in crypto
There are bipartisan concerns on the role of crypto in enabling Russia to skirt economic sanctions Warren’s proposed bill would require crypto exchanges to track and submit records on transactions to private crypto wallets As the sanctions against Russia become stringent and more companies including Visa and MasterCard join the list of those suspending operations in the country, the United States political class wants to go a step further to ensure that “crypto isn’t used by Putin and his cronies to undermine our economic sanctions,” as Democratic senator Elizabeth Warren put it. According to a report first published by NBC News on Tuesday, the senior senator from Massachusetts is crafting a piece of legislation to crack down on crypto and prevent its use by Ru...
From Rock Clubs to the Resistance
When I wrote about my glimpses of the Ukrainian rock scene in the book The Humorless Ladies of Border Control, many of the musicians I spoke to had been newly radicalized by the 2014 “Revolution of Dignity” (or Maidan Revolution), and the Russian annexation of Crimea that followed. One was Sasha Boole, a rambunctious singer-songwriter from Chernivtsi, a city in southwestern Ukraine near the Romanian and Moldovan border. We played a show together in the provincial town of Kalush. “Everyone thinks he looks just like you,” the promoter told me. “We made up a myth that you were brothers, that you fell in love with a girl but she chose Sasha, and so you went to America.” When Sasha arrived, I saw what they meant…He wore a handlebar moustache and a bowler hat and sported a tattoo of a skeleton p...
Brave Ukrainian Girl Sings “Let It Go” Inside Bomb Shelter: Watch
With a bomb shelter as her stage and dozens of people seeking safety as her audience, a young Ukrainian girl named Amelia has captured the world’s attention with a defiant performance of Frozen’s “Let It Go.” Marta Smekhova was a member of the audience, and she filmed and uploaded the performance with the permission of Amelia’s mother. “From the first word in the [bomb shelter] came complete silence,” Smekhova wrote. “[E]veryone put their business aside and listen[ed] to a song by this girl who was just beaming light… even men couldn’t hold back the tears.” “Let It Go” has become an anthem for overcoming adversity, with lyrics such as, “Let the storm rage on/ The cold never bothered me any way.” The song takes on new meaning as Russian troops shell Ukrainian cities as part of an unpro...
Ukrainian Actor Pasha Lee Killed by Russian Forces While Defending Country
Ukrainian actor Pasha Lee was killed on Sunday in attack by Russian forces, according to a statement from the Odesa International Film Festival. He was 33 years old. Lee (also referred to as Pavlo Li and Pasha Li) was a well-known actor in his home country. He joined the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine following Russia’s invasion of the country, and was killed when Russian forces shelled Irpin, a city west of Kyiv. Lee was born in Yevpatoria, Crimea to a Korean father and Ukrainian mother. His credits include the 2019 comedy Meeting of Classmates, the 2017 sports action film The Fight Rules, the 2016 action comedy Selfie Party, and the 2012 comedy/drama Zvychayna Sprava. Advertisement Related Video Lee also dubbed beloved English-language films like The Lion King ...
FinCEN includes crypto in alert on Russia potentially evading sanctions
The United States Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, or FinCEN, a bureau of the Treasury Department, has warned financial institutions to consider crypto as a possible means Russia may attempt to use to evade sanctions related to the country’s military action in Ukraine. In a Monday alert, FinCEN reminded U.S.-based financial institutions “with visibility into cryptocurrency” and convertible virtual currency, or CVC, to report any activity that could be considered a potential way for Russia to evade sanctions imposed by the U.S. and its allies. While the U.S. watchdog said that the Russian government using CVCs to evade large scale sanctions was “not necessarily practicable,” financial institutions were obligated to report such activities from Russian and Belarusian individuals named in...
3 reasons why Bitcoin can rally back to $60K despite erasing last week’s gains
Bitcoin (BTC) plunged to below $38,000 on Monday, giving up all the gains it had made last week, which saw BTC/USD rally over $45,000. BTC back below $40K as oil soars The losses appeared primarily in part due to selloffs across the risk-on markets, led by the 18% rise in international oil benchmark Brent crude to almost $139 per barrel early Monday, its highest level since 2008. Nonetheless, Bitcoin’s inability to offer a hedge against the ongoing market volatility also raised doubts over its “safe haven” status, with its correlation coefficient with Nasdaq Composite reaching 0.87 on Monday. BTC/USD weekly price chart featuring its correlation with Nasdaq and Gold. Source: TradingView Conversely, Bitcoin’s correlation with its top rival gold came to be minus 0...
Coinbase acts to ensure compliance with sanctions against Russia
Crypto exchange Coinbase says it has blocked over 25k Russian addresses linked to illicit dealings The exchange has submitted the idea of using crypto tech over traditional fiat to ensure sanctions compliance In an official blog post published today, the largest crypto exchange in the US, Coinbase, has voiced its support for the range of sanctions placed against Russia. The exchange insisted that sanctions play a critical role in national security and dissuading unlawful aggression. In the post, the exchange’s chief legal officer Paul Grewal acknowledged that while Coinbase’s compliance program might not be perfect, it is doing its bit in helping ensure compliance to imposed financial and economic penalties. He explained that via its multi-layered, global sanctions program, Coinbase is abl...
