Tech Hooligan BitRuble Remains Unaffected by Russia’s Crypto Ban
On Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Finance proposed to introduce imprisonment for issuing and using “money substitutes”, such as Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. One of the currencies that seemingly falls under the suggested legislation is BitRuble, a project by the Russian payment processor Qiwi. BitRuble to be launched in 2016. However, as Qiwi’s Head of Cryptotech Development, Aleksey Arkhipov, said, the BitRuble team isn’t planning to go to prison any time soon: According to Arkhipov, Qiwi plans to launch BitRuble before the end of this year, however several crucial questions....
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A new blockchain-based digital currency called project BitRuble is expected to launch in early 2016 sais Sergey Solonin. Russian payment service provider Qiwi has reportedly invested “several hundred million rubles” to develop the first cryptocurrency designed for the Russian market. Qiwi’s General Director Sergey Solonin stated: Blockchain technology will serve as the basis for the BitRuble. However, the fate of this currency might solely depend on whether Russia’s Central Bank and the government will give the project the green light according to CEO and co-owner of Qiwi, Sergei Solonin.....
While the number of major global banks announcing blockchain tech trials continues to escalate, Russian payments startup Qiwi remains a rarity in its home country of Russia. The payment service announced last September it had built a proprietary digital currency called the ‘BitRuble’, a project that received widespread interest due to the negative climate for the technology in Russia. There, the country’s legislative assembly has been working for over a year on a law that would outlaw some uses of bitcoin. In a new interview, however, Qiwi indicated that it is still seeking to move forward....
A Russian payments firm is pushing ahead with a plan to release its own cryptocurrency, reportedly submitting an application to register a trademark for the initiative. According to Russian news agency Interfax, Qiwi is seeking to trademark the term "Bitruble". An application has been sent to the Federal Service for Intellectual Property. The filing follows the company's move to acquire domain name space related to the term "bitruble", as reported by Kommersant earlier this month. Qiwi has also indicated that the cryptocurrency could be backed by some form of commodity. The proposal drew....
Payment service provider and future BitRuble issuer Qiwi are launching a series of blockchain focused master classes called “Promising Distribution,” which in partnership with the Laboratory of High School of Economics in Russia (HSE.Lab), could help the Russian government better understand Bitcoin’s underlying technology and its potential. The High School of Economics is renowned for to its academic supervisor Yevgeny Yasin, Russia’s former Economics Minister, and Alexander Shokhin, former Deputy Chairman of the Russian Government, and one of the leaders of the ruling party “Edinaya....
Despite the recent court ruling that overturned a previous decision to block access to at least five Bitcoin websites, Russia’s supervision agency has blacklisted one of the country’s most popular Bitcoin-related websites. On May 27, Russia’s Federal Supervision Agency for Information Technologies and Communications (Roskomnadzor) effectively blocked access to one of Russia’s most popular Bitcoin news websites, BitNovosti.com. When attempting to access the domain within the country, users are instead met with the following message from the authorities: “This site has been blocked by order....