October 24, 2022

🏡Russian crypto traders have a home in Kazakhstan

October 24, 2022

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All the emerging market blockchain & crypto news you needin less than 5 minutes

In This Issue

Eastern Europe•SANCTIONS: Russian traders welcomed in Kazakhstan•REGULATION: New mining bill will be introduced to the State Duma in RussiaLatin America and The Caribbean•USE CASE: Decentralized voting project using Zero Knowledge Proof tech wins hackathon in Colombia•MINING: Electricity rates for crypto mining increase as high as 58% in ParaguayAsia•FINANCE: Blockchain-based bonds to be tested in Israel•USE CASE: Blockchain-based digital identification to be issued in South KoreaAfrica•LICENSING: YellowCard becomes the first crypto exchange to be granted a Virtual Asset Service Provider license in Africa•REGULATION: Crypto classified as a 'financial asset' in South Africa, regulation on the horizon

Eastern Europe

Image Credit: Adam Nowakowski via Unsplash

Non-sanctioned Russians will be able to trade on the Kazakhstani crypto exchange, Intebix. CEO and co-founder of Intebix, Talgat Dosanov, said, “Russian nationals who are not on sanction lists are welcome at Intebix, though they will need to pass a deep compliance check and open an account in Eurasian bank to enjoy the crypto-to-fiat transactions.” Dosanov indicted that Intebix welcomes non-sanctioned Russian nationals because the Astana International Financial Centre (AIFC) regulates the exchange.REGULATION: New mining bill will be introduced to the State Duma in Russia (2 minute read, original article in Russian)

The most recent cryptocurrency mining bill was rejected last week by the Russian State Duma and a new draft law on cryptocurrency mining will be submitted in the near future according to Anton Gorelkin, deputy chairman of the State Duma committee on information policy and representative of the United Russia party. The new bill will be more elaborate, taking into considerations the opinions of the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance, and will include provisions on cross-border crypto payments, establish mining standards, provide legal grounds for the development of domestic crypto infrastructure, and not threaten the ruble as the sole means of payment in Russia.Want more Eastern Europe news?•Kraken crypto exchange is next to close doors to Russian users•Turkey taps blockchain for e-Human project, President Erdoğan announced•The Central Bank spoke about the identification of companies with signs of illegal activities (Russian)•The main thing about crypto-sanctions against Russians (Russian)

Latin America and The Caribbean

Image Credit: Parker Johnson via Unsplash

A Brazilian decentralized application (dApp) company that fractionalizes NFTs, NFTFY, has won a hackathon in Colombia for developing a decentralized voting project called 'ZK Vote'. Using Polygon's ID technology and Zero Knowledge Proof technology, NFTFY built a digital voting card that allows evidence of voting without identifying the voter. According to Leonardo Carvalho, CEO and Co-founder of NFTFY, “Participating in competitions like these is extremely important for the development of technologies that evolve the crypto world. I believe that the development of a technology that allows decentralized elections is something very interesting to be raised as it explores one of the many possibilities of blockchain as a tool that goes far beyond just cryptocurrencies.”MINING: Electricity rates for crypto mining increase as high as 58% in Paraguay (2 minute read, original article in Spanish)

The Paraguayan National Electricity Administration (ANDE) has decreed that cryptocurrency miners will have to pay rates between 6% and 58% higher than today. The increases will be based on the voltage levels and ANDE explained that the rate increase is to preserve electricity for traditional production sectors. Commenting on Paraguay's crypto regulatory framework that was vetoed by Paraguay's executive branch, the president of ANDE said the "bill intends to impose an insufficient rate, which if applied, all of us would be subsidizing the consumption of electricity for [crypto mining].”Want more Latin American & Caribbean news?•“El Salvador has definitely been a pioneer in terms of cryptocurrency adoption”, Tom Yang CMO of Gate.io (Spanish)•Almost 80% of El Salvador’s citizens believe the country’s Bitcoin strategy has failed•Banks and insurers must start testing the metaverse (Spanish)•Culte and SLC Agrícola will launch Brazil’s first agro metaverse (Portuguese)•CVM opinion shows openness, but leaves open points (Portuguese)

Asia

Image Credit: Tyler Easton via Unsplash

In an effort to modernize financial market processes and reduce operating costs, the government of Israel is testing blockchain-based digital bonds in a joint effort with the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE) and the Office of the Accountant General in the Ministry of Finance. TASE will issue tokenized bonds via a private permissioned distributed ledger to demonstrate that blockchain and tokenization will improve transparency, streamline processes, reduce bond issuance costs, and speed up settlement times. The pilot project has already begun and is expected to be completed by the end of Q1 2023.

The South Korean government plans to offer blockchain-secured digital IDs to people with a smartphone in 2024 and aims for 45 million citizens to adopt digital IDs within two years. Digital IDs are expected to generate at least 60 trillion won ($42 billion), or 3% of GDP, in economic value within ten years. Digital IDs simplify verification on the web with a pin or fingerprint for actions like applying for state benefits, transferring money, or casting a vote.

Africa

Image Credit: Adeniji Abdullahi via Unsplash

Botswana's Non-Bank Financial Institution Regulatory Authority (NBFIRA) issued YellowCard the first Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) license in Africa. "We have over a million customers and the only crypto exchange on the continent that has a [VASP] license,” says Chris Maurice, CEO of YellowCard. In early 2022, Botswana passed a virtual assets bill to regulate the trading of cryptocurrencies and digital tokens.

Crypto is a 'financial asset' according to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA), South Africa's financial watch dog, enabling it to be regulated. The FSCA formally defined crypto assets as "a digital representation of value." Planned regulations include foreign exchange controls and licensing crypto trading companies.

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