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Draft Law About NFTs Submitted to Russian Parliament

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Draft Law About NFTs Submitted to Russian Parliament

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.

Anonymous Allegedly Hacks Sberbank, Russia’s Largest Bank

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Anonymous Allegedly Hacks Sberbank, Russia’s Largest Bank

Hacktivist collective Anonymous has allegedly breached the systems of one of the largest financial institutions in Russia, Sberbank. The attackers announced on social media they have published thousands of emails, phone numbers, and addresses.

Anonymous Hackers Reportedly Gain Access to Sberbank Database


Decentralized hacking group Anonymous claims to have hacked Sberbank. A Twitter account associated with the collective, @YourAnonOne, announced the attack earlier this week, noting the institution is the largest bank in the Russian Federation and the region of Eastern Europe.


Moscow-headquartered Sberbank, currently called Sber, is a majority state-owned banking and financial services company with a presence in several European nations, mostly in the post-Soviet space. Western sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have affected its operations. At the end of February, Sberbank Europe said it was leaving the European market.

A tweet from another account linked to Anonymous detailed that the hackers have acquired and leaked 5,030 emails, addresses, and phone numbers from the compromised database. Sberbank, which reportedly accounts for around a third of all bank assets in Russia, has not yet commented on these claims.

The post redirects to an archive with five Excel files, crypto news outlet Forklog reported on Friday. They contain information about the bank’s free safe deposit boxes as of June 14, 2016, a register of property and partner appraisers, a list of the types of traded futures contracts, and a blank template of a certificate of property status and current obligations.

Shortly after the Russian armed forces crossed the Ukrainian border in late February, Anonymous declared a cyberwar on Russia, vowing to disrupt the country’s internet. It has since targeted the websites of the Kremlin, the State Duma, and the Ministry of Defense, attacked Russian TV channels, and released millions of leaked emails.

In March, the hacktivist collective said it has published 28GB of documents belonging to the Central Bank of Russia, including some of the monetary authority’s “secret agreements.” In early May, the Anonymous-affiliated hacking group Network Battalion 65 (NB65) announced it hit the popular Russian payment processor Qiwi.

Do you think Anonymous will continue to attack Russian targets? Share your expectations in the comments section below.

Russia Legalizing Bitcoin And Crypto Is A Matter of Time, Says Minister of Industry And Trade

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Denis Manturov, Russian minister of industry and trade, explains that legalizing bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment will happen given time.

  • The legalization of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as a means of payment is only a matter of time according to the Russian minister of industry and trade.
  • The minister explains that the process of legalization will happen, it’s just a matter of how it is regulated, and how it is passed.
  • Russian regulatory agencies have danced around the concepts of legalization and bans over the course of the past few months.

Denis Manturov, Minister of Industry and Trade of the Russian Federation, recently expressed his opinion that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies being legalized in Russia is just a matter of time, according to a report from Russian state news agency TASS.

At an educational event called New Horizon, when asked whether or not Russia would be legalizing bitcoin or any other cryptocurrency, Manturov stated:

“The question is when it will happen, how it will happen and how it will be regulated. Now both the Central Bank and the government are actively engaged in this.”

Currently, Russian authorities are discussing the future of cryptocurrencies and mining. The Bank of Russia pushed for a complete ban on cryptocurrency, citing systemic threats to the current financial system.

The Ministry of Finance, however, has held the position that cryptocurrencies should be legal and well-regulated and President Vladimir Putin also pleaded with regulatory agencies to come to an agreement on the matter due to Russia’s natural resource advantages.

“But everyone tends to understand that this is a trend of time, and sooner or later, in one format or another it will be carried out,” said Manturov at the New Horizon event. “But, once again, it should be legal, correct, in accordance with the rules that will be formulated.”

This past February, the Russian government approved the concept of regulating bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies based on a proposal drafted by the Ministry of Finance. During the same month, the Ministry of Finance also submitted a bill.

The Ministry of Finance reportedly expects legislation regulating bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies will be introduced this year and is also working on the collection of tax as it relates to cryptocurrency. 

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

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

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.

Study: Amid Mining Bans, China Still Commands World’s Second-Largest Share of Bitcoin Hashrate

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Study: Amid Mining Bans, China Still Commands World's Second-Largest Share of Bitcoin Hashrate

New data stemming from the latest Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF) report on bitcoin mining indicates that China still holds the second position in terms of global hashrate. While China commands close to 22% of Bitcoin’s global hashrate, the United States currently dominates with 37.69%, according to CCAF researchers.

China Is Still the World’s Second-Largest Concentration of Bitcoin Miners


The Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance updated the organization’s bitcoin mining data and map in order to highlight 2022 hashrate statistics. In July 2021, Bitcoin.com News reported on the CCAF’s data that showed China’s hashrate dropping by 46%.

At the time, China’s government enforced a ban on bitcoin mining and a great deal of the country’s miners re-located. However, the latest CCAF stats show China’s hashrate is still very prominent as the country is the second-largest leader in terms of global hashpower dedicated to the Bitcoin (BTC) network.

The study’s authors believe the miners located in China are likely leveraging virtual private networks (VPNs) to conceal their locations. The report indicates that China’s share of the overall Bitcoin network hashrate was 21.11%.

CCAF’s data derives from the organization’s partner mining pools Foundry, Poolin, Viabtc, and Btc.com. Moreover, some of the hashrate stemming from China did not leverage VPNs and CCAF’s researchers believe those miners are comfortable with their locations unhidden.

Unites States Dominates Bitcoin’s Global Hashrate by More Than 37%


CCAF’s report notes that a “non-trivial” quantity of Chinese miners may have thought the ban wasn’t a big deal. “It is probable that a non-trivial share of Chinese miners quickly adapted to the new circumstances and continued operating covertly while hiding their tracks using foreign proxy services to deflect attention and scrutiny.”

Following CCAF’s updated data in July and October 2021, a CNBC report noted that unnamed sources told the reporter MacKenzie Sigalos that bitcoin miners were still located in China. China’s hashrate is sizable compared to a great number of other countries, however, the U.S. still dominates Bitcoin’s global hashrate by 37.69%.

CCAF’s data from last July showed the U.S. captured 16.8% of the global hashrate last year. If CCAF’s data is correct, that would mean the U.S. hashrate has climbed 124.34% since July 2021. Pool distribution metrics match with CCAF’s data as the mining pool Foundry USA has captured 19.5% of the global hashrate during the last three months. 13,182 blocks were mined during the three-month period and Foundry USA found 2,566 of them.

What do you think about the latest CCAF data that shows close to 22% of the world’s Bitcoin hashrate still resides in China? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.