The deadly conflict that started with Russia’s assault on Ukraine has increased crypto-related activity in both countries, according to Chainalysis. Fiat inflation and sanctions pressure led to several spikes in transaction volumes this year, the blockchain forensics firm has found, while Eastern Europe as a whole sustained its role in the global crypto ecosystem.
Playrix today announced it is fully withdrawing from Russia and Belarus, “due to the continued aggression against Ukraine and in order to maintain its operations.” The Russian-founded global mobile gaming giant will “close all the company’s offices” and “shut down all operations of its studios” in Russia and Belarus. The remaining staff will be “relocated from Russia and Belarus …
Playrix fully withdraws from Russia and Belarus, keeps operating in Ukraine Read More
Billionaire Silicon Valley investor Yuri Milner said Monday he had renounced his Russian citizenship. “My family and I left Russia for good in 2014, after the Russian annexation of Crimea. And this summer, we officially completed the process of renouncing our Russian citizenship,” the Moscow-born Milner tweeted. Milner, founder of the internet investment firm DST Global and …
Silicon Valley billionaire Yuri Milner renounces Russian citizenship Read More
The Council of the European Union has announced new sanctions against Russia on the backdrop of the deepening military conflict in Ukraine. The new measures include a full ban on the provision of wallet, account, or custody services for crypto assets to Russian persons and residents. The measure will apply regardless of the value of these assets, according to …
EU bans crypto services for Russians in new sanctions over Ukraine escalation Read More
A joke on social media proposing that Czechs seize the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad has gone viral, sparking mirth as well as anger from those taking it as real. “Time to split Kaliningrad so that our Czech brothers have access to the sea,” a Pole identifying himself as “Papiez internetu” (pope of the internet) tweeted …
Social media joke about annexing Kaliningrad goes viral Read More
Last week VK Company, one of Russia’s top Internet companies, announced the sale of its international gaming division My.Games to Alexander Chachava, Managing Partner of Russian venture firm LETA Capital. The deal includes 100% of the shares and assets of My.Games, including its studios and game products. The deal valued My.Games at $642 million — some …
VK sells its international gaming division in fear of sanctions Read More
When the Soviet Union splintered into separate nations in the early 1990s, it contained exactly zero hubs for venture-backed tech startups. Three decades later, of course, the picture is quite different. Metro areas in multiple former Soviet countries now have a rich concentration of tech founders. Capital has followed. But as one might expect, geopolitics …
Where’s funding going in former Soviet states? Not Russia Read More
The international acceptance of MIR, Russia’s answer to Visa and Mastercard, shrunk dramatically last week as major banks from Armenia, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Uzbekistan and Vietnam announced the suspension of such transactions. These announcements came soon after the US authorities warned banks outside the US that supporting MIR transactions could expose them to the risk …
President Vladimir Putin on Monday granted Russian citizenship to U.S. whistleblower Edward Snowden, who exposed massive surveillance by the U.S. National Security Agency and was granted refuge by Moscow. A presidential decree published Monday included Edward Joseph Snowden born June 21, 1983, on a list of newly-minted Russian citizens, at a time when relations between …
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the Ministry of Finance (Minfin) have adopted a joint position on the regulation of crypto mining. The bitcoin-related activity has been expanding in the energy-rich nation, both as a profitable industry and as a source of additional income for many Russians. Anatoly Aksakov, chair of the parliamentary Financial Market …
Bank of Russia, finance ministry agree on crypto mining regulation, law expected soon Read More
According to Mediascope data (cited by Kommersant), Russians spent more time on YouTube in the first six months of 2022 than previously. They spent on average about 84 minutes per day on the site in this period, then 87 minutes in July and 88 minutes in August. Among the reasons for this trend could be news fatigue and a desire for …
YouTube used increasingly in Russia mainly for entertainment purposes Read More
The iPhone 14 went on sale in US stores Friday. Even though the company’s flagship product is not officially available in Russia, it will still reach the country via the so-called parallel imports scheme. Moreover, a strong ruble means there has reportedly been a significant uptick in pre-orders of the iPhone 14. There are even …
How parallel import provides Russians with Apple’s latest iPhone Read More
