cryptocurrency

Draft Law About NFTs Submitted to Russian Parliament

21/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

Lawmakers have filed a bill with the State Duma aimed at introducing the term NFTs to Russian legislation. The authors of the draft say the rights of those who own non-fungible tokens need to be protected as Russians are currently dealing with NFTs at their own risk.

Russian Deputies Propose Amendments Legally Defining NFTs

Members of the lower house of Russian parliament, the Duma, have put forward a draft law that will incorporate the term “NFT-tokens” into the Civil Code of the Russian Federation. The sponsors of the bill, Vladislav Davankov and Anton Tkachev, are from the parliamentary group of the liberal New People party.

The explanatory note to the bill, Tass news agency reported, states that the initiative aims to “recognize NFT-tokens as non-fungible tokens of unique digital assets (images, videos or other content) in the form of non-fungible data stored in a distributed ledger system (blockchain system).”

“We need to protect the rights of NFT owners,” said Tkachev, quoted by the party’s press service. He pointed out that at present the legal concept of non-fungible tokens does not exist in Russian law and people continue to make transactions with NFT tokens at their own risk. He further elaborated:

Things have moved forward with cryptocurrencies, but an NFT is not a digital currency but a digital certificate of ownership, that is, an object of intellectual property, which is why we propose to regulate NFTs as intellectual property.

While Russian authorities have been taking steps to comprehensively regulate the country’s crypto space, Russia’s current and upcoming legislation does not explicitly mention NFTs. The term digital financial assets (DFAs), introduced with a law which went into force in January 2021, partially covers cryptocurrencies and some types of tokens.

A new bill “On Digital Currency,” which was submitted by the Ministry of Finance in February, is expected to be adopted this year. It has been designed to fill the remaining regulatory gaps in the nation’s legislation. It has already won the support of the federal government in Moscow, while the Central Bank of Russia remains opposed to the legalization of cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

Do you think the State Duma will approve the new legislation for non-fungible tokens? Tell us in the comments section below.

Crypto’s Barren Wasteland: A Look at What’s Left of Terra’s Defi and Token Ruins

21/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

Following the Terra blockchain fallout and the great UST de-pegging event, the Terra network ecosystem is now a wasteland of almost worthless tokens and protocols. While both UST and LUNA were top ten crypto market cap contenders, Terra’s decentralized finance (defi) presence was second to Ethereum in terms of total value locked. Today, the remaining Terra-based token holders and defi protocol operators seem to be waiting for a miracle.

Terra’s Token Economy Has Lost 96% of Its Value

There’s been an abundance of news surrounding the Terra blockchain fiasco and how the team handled the terrausd (UST) implosion. A lot of people know that UST and Terra’s native token LUNA have lost considerable value over the last two weeks. UST has had a 24-hour price range between $0.068 to $0.054 per unit, which is a lot less than the $1 parity it held before the fallout.

LUNA too is down a great deal as it was trading for $72 per coin on May 7, and is now down 99.999849% at $0.00010853 per LUNA. But Terra also had a whole ecosystem of tokens like ANC, MIR, ASTRO, MARS, and more.

Anchor (ANC) the governance token for the defi protocol is down 96% over the past two weeks, and Astroport’s ASTRO token is down 98%. Mirror Protocol’s MIR lost 80.4% while Pylon Protocol’s MINE has shed 96.9% in the last 14 days.

Similarly, Mars Protocol (MARS) has lost 97.6% and the Loop Finance token LOOP is down 98.3% over the past two weeks. Statistics show on March 7, 2022, the Terra ecosystem of tokens was worth $44 billion and today its down 96.70% to $1.45 billion.

From the 2nd Largest in Defi to the 33rd — Terra’s Defi Presence Has Been Eradicated

Terra’s presence in decentralized finance was once very large as it held the second-largest total value locked (TVL) out of all the blockchains in existence. On April 5, 2022, Terra’s TVL in defi was $31.21 billion and today, it’s down to $118.81 million.

Every single Terra defi protocol has suffered from 90-99% losses in terms of TVL per protocol. The applications are ghost towns and block explorers like finder.terra.money show extremely low activity for every Terra defi protocol.

The same can be said for applications like Terra Name Service (TNS) and non-fungible token (NFT) marketplaces like Random Earth, Knowhere, Talis, Luart, Curio, and One Planet. While name service domains on TNS were once $16 per name, they now cost $0.91 to register a name.

As far as NFT marketplaces built on Terra, some markets are still selling NFTs that were once quite expensive, but now the tokens are selling for bottom-of-the-barrel prices. Some NFT collectors removed their listings and are possibly waiting for a Terra re-birth. Most Terra NFT marketplaces are ghost towns in terms of activity.

The Hope for Terra’s Rebirth

A revival is likely the hope for many Terra community members, as the project’s founder Do Kwon and many other Terra supporters have put forth a revival plan to resurrect Terra from the ashes. The plan is to fork the chain at a snapshot before the UST de-pegging event and airdrop new tokens to UST and LUNA holders.

Presently, the rebirth proposal vote has four more days but the number of “yes” votes has passed the threshold at 62%. 21.10% have abstained from voting, 0.42% have voted “no,” and 16.48% voted “no with veto.”

What do you think about what’s left of the Terra blockchain ecosystem? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Cyprus Drafts Crypto Rules, May Introduce Them Before EU Regulations

20/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

Cyprus has prepared its own legislation to regulate crypto assets and is likely to adopt it before Europe finalizes a common regulatory framework, a government official has indicated. The authorities in Nicosia welcome the “careful” use of cryptocurrencies, he added.

Government of Cyprus to Submit ‘Attractive’ Crypto Bill

Cyprus has an “enviable position” in the EU when it comes to innovation, with the second-best progress last year, according to the European Innovation Scoreboard, the country’s Deputy Minister for Research, Innovation and Digital Policy Kyriacos Kokkinos stated at a meeting with the local fintech community. The event was devoted to digital assets, entrepreneurship and financial technology.

Commenting on the future of digital assets in Cyprus, including cryptocurrencies, the minister walked a fine line between embracing innovation and having to pay heed to laws, the Cyprus Mail wrote in a report on Thursday. Quoted by the English-language daily newspaper, Kokkinos elaborated:

I can tell you that Cyprus welcomes the use of digital and crypto assets, but we still need to be very careful and respect not only the regulations currently in place but also the absence of any regulations.

The government representative gave an example with Malta, the regulatory framework of witch attracted many crypto companies and investors but also led to increased scrutiny and investigations into some of its companies and banking institutions. “We have to be careful of the frameworks of the European Union since we are a member state,” Kokkinos emphasized.

The deputy minister then revealed that the Cyprus government has already drafted a “very attractive bill on crypto assets.” The legislation has been published and interested parties can review it, he pointed out. The executive power has also commissioned a New York-based firm to assist the island nation with the implementation of the regulations.

“Our challenge is not being aligned with the EU, it’s about the dilemma of whether to wait for the ECB to finalize their own regulatory framework or do we go alone on our own, with the former scenario also involving the possibility of that framework being overregulated,” Kyriacos Kokkinos remarked. “My answer is that we will go at it alone while respecting the rules,” he added.

The deputy minister acknowledged that certain challenges exist, including some disagreements between the government and the Central Bank of Cyprus (CBC). “We must remember that the CBC is subject to the ECB and central banks tend to be conservative, so our job is to challenge them through the debates we are having with them,” he told the audience at the event which took place in Larnaca.

Do you expect Cyprus to introduce crypto regulations before the European Union? Tell us in the comments section below.

Panama President Mulls Crypto Bill Approval Due to Money Laundering Concerns

19/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

The president of Panama, Laurentino Cortizo, has declared he will not sign the recently approved cryptocurrency bill passed by the National Assembly of the country in its current form. Cortizo stated that one of his main concerns about the bill is the stance it takes regarding money laundering activities and crypto. Cortizo may approve some parts of the bill while vetoing others.

Panama’s President Considers Crypto Bill Veto

Laurentino Cortizo, the president of Panama, has announced his opinion regarding the recently approved cryptocurrency bill, and how it might be too lax when it comes to dealing with unlawful activities like money laundering in the sector. While speaking at the Bloomberg New Economy Gateway Latin America conference in Panama City, Cortizo stated:

If I’m going to answer you right now with the information that I have, which is not enough, I will not sign that law.

Furthermore, Cortizo explained that he and his government would have to be “very careful” if the crypto bill presented has clauses dealing with money laundering activities, remarking that these are very important to Panama.

Panama allows the president to have veto power over the bills presented by the National Assembly, and Cortizo could use this attribution to repel the bill in its current form. However, Cortizo declared he and his lawyers are still reviewing the law to make a decision.

Panama’s Crypto Law

Panama started its cryptocurrency regulation journey last year, when Gabriel Silva, a national representative, introduced a crypto bill with a proposal that aimed to modernize the country and bring it up to par with other countries in the area. The bill, which faced some changes during its discussion, establishes pivotal concepts about crypto, blockchain, and virtual asset service providers.

In addition to this, the approved version of the bill introduces blockchain as a tool to improve the transparency of state spending, like other projects introduced already in Latam. This would include the progressive migration of public records to the blockchain.

Another important proposal of the bill is the digitalization of the identification process, with issued IDs being published on a public blockchain. Cortizo might take some of the articles passed and make them law, and veto other parts of the bill. To conclude, Cortizo stated:

It is an innovative law from what I have heard, it’s a good law. However, we do have a solid financial system here in Panama and one of the things I’m waiting on is when you have a global regulation of crypto-assets.

What do you think about the opinion of the president of Panama regarding the passed crypto bill? Tell us in the comments section below.

Russia’s First Digital Financial Assets Expected This Year, Lawmaker Says

18/05/2022 by Idelto Editor

The first digital financial assets based on Russian blockchains may be issued as early as this year, a high-ranking parliamentarian announced. Three platforms are already registered as issuers, said Anatoly Aksakov, who chairs the Financial Market Committee at the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament.

Russian Digital Financial Assets Likely to Appear by Year’s End

Authorized Russian blockchain platforms may issue their first digital financial assets (DFAs) by the end of 2022, according to the head of the parliamentary committee overseeing Russia’s financial sector, Anatoly Aksakov.

Speaking during the Moscow Academic Economic Forum, Aksakov noted that Russia is now actively working in this field after adopting the law “On Digital Financial Assets,” which went into force in January 2021. DFA is the legal term that encompasses cryptocurrencies in the current Russian legislation.

The Russian deputy revealed that three platforms — developed by a subsidiary of Norilsk Nickel, Transmashholding, and Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank — are already registered as DFA issuers. Another two will be approved in the near future. Aksakov was quoted by Russian media as stating:

We expect that, maybe even this year, the first digital financial assets will be issued, and they will gradually become the basis for financial settlements on the blockchain.

The lawmaker believes that these DFAs will be used for financial settlements and as units of account in economic relations with partners and subsidiaries. “This is, to a certain extent, an alternative to those financial settlements that today exist on the basis of the dollar or the euro or other currencies,” he elaborated.

Anatoly Aksakov emphasized that the Russian government supports the legalization of the digital assets market through strict regulation and has prepared a new bill to achieve that. He was referring to the law “On Digital Currency” drafted by the Ministry of Finance, which is yet to be submitted to the State Duma.

Russia has been stepping up efforts to adopt rules for its digital assets space and this bill should expand the legal framework for the sector, which was only partially regulated with the law “On Digital Financial Assets.” While the finance ministry favors regulating cryptocurrencies along with other digital assets, the Central Bank of Russia remains opposed to their legalization in the country.

Do you expect Russian companies to employ DFAs for settlements with foreign partners? Tell us in the comments section below.