Overview of current news of the crypto-space

In our digest, we looked at some important news from the crypto industry over the past week:

• 50 bitcoins mined in 2009 were moved to another wallet after an 11-year lull;
• Binance moved 1.25 billion USDT to maintain its liquidity balance;
• Russia’s central bank plans to launch a digital ruble pilot project in July-August 2021;
• Russian Ministry of Finance calls for using cryptocurrency to develop digital financial asset market;
• Thailand’s central bank begins testing its digital currency.

And now for more details. Reading time: 6 minutes.

1. For more than 11 years no one has touched the 50 bitcoins that were mined in February 2009, but yesterday they were moved to another wallet. The Bitcoin network began operating in 2009, accordingly, these coins were manumitted by one of the first cryptocurrency enthusiasts, which included the creator of the main cryptocurrency himself, Satoshi Nakamoto. This event received attention from the cryptocurrency community, as transfers of old bitcoins are rare. Over the years, the value of bitcoin has increased significantly, and this proves the benefits of cryptocurrency holdings. These coins can currently be valued at $1.28 million. Members of the cryptocurrency community have concluded that it is most likely not Satoshi who is responsible for sending the bitcoins, but simply an anonymous early admirer of the coins. The event caused quite a stir in the community and raised questions about who was really behind the transaction.
2. Binance warned users on June 16 about the transfer of 1.25 billion USDT, said it was related to maintaining liquidity balance and asked not to consider it a “drain” or rebalancing. The transfer took place at 09:30 UTC on June 16. The company says that users can be confident that their funds are safe. From our channel news, you saw that USDT lost its peg to the dollar on June 15, and the share of the stable coin in Curve Finance and Uniswap pools is still holding at quite a high level. The market is closely watching the actions of Binance and Tether, and a rash shift of capital could lead to panic in the market and then a “domino effect”.
3. The Central Bank of Russia plans to start a pilot launch of digital ruble in the retail segment in July-August 2023. The testing will take place in 11 Russian cities, which are not disclosed. According to First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia, Olga Skorobogatova, the corresponding wallets will be opened to banks, citizens and businesses. She stressed that the regulator from a practical point of view is interested in the process of paying for goods and services with the digital ruble, which should become the third form of money in the country. Moreover, the launch of digital currency for payment of goods and services in Russia is not the only goal of the Central Bank. The regulator also plans to discuss the integration of national digital currencies with several countries, in particular, we are talking about building integration bypassing SWIFT – the international financial messaging system. The first smart contracts using the digital ruble could take place as early as the second half of 2023.
4. The Ministry of Finance of Russia encourages the use of cryptocurrency by citizens to develop the market of digital financial assets (DFA), which are designed to attract investment and invest money. Ivan Chebeskov, head of the Financial Policy Department of the Russian Finance Ministry, noted that without the use of citizens’ crypto-assets, the CFA market would be difficult to compete with traditional financial instruments. Crypto-assets of Russians are estimated at 10-15 trillion rubles.On June 14, the State Duma passed a law allowing financial platform operators to issue or exchange CFAs. Such marketplaces allow citizens to receive banking and insurance services, make transactions with financial instruments, etc.

   “Sberbank, which has become an issuer of CFA for gold, has already conducted the first transaction to transfer digital financial assets to third parties on its own platform. The transfer gives the market an impetus to create a secondary turnover of CFA for gold, Sberbank Deputy Chairman Anatoly Popov added.

   However, according to Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Market, CFA issuance may intensify after the launch of the digital ruble.

5. Thailand’s central bank has begun testing its digital currency, which will last until August 2023. Bank of Ayudhya (Krungsri), Siam Commercial Bank and 2C2P will participate in the project. Selected users will be given access to the application and wallet for the digital baht, as well as a special QR-code. In total, about 10,000 users will participate in the project. The retail CBDC is to function without being connected to the PromptPay payment service. Earlier, the Governor of the Central Bank of Thailand said that it is better to conduct additional research on the state steiblocoin to better study its risks and benefits.

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