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Revolut is going to enter the Russian market as the fintech platform. All costs are planned to be taken on by one of the project partners – QIWI.

Nikolay Storonsky, the founder of the Revolut service, took part at the Finopolis forum of the innovative financial technologies in Sochi and expressed the opinion that the company is going to enter the Russian market with its product. Revolut is a mobile application with which it is possible to convert the funds from one currency to another, to carry out free international transfers, as well as to exchange cryptocurrencies. Nikolay Storonsky pointed out that his team had developed the service three years earlier than the specialists of Tinkoff Bank.

However, Oleg Tinkov, the founder of Tinkoff Bank, expressed the opinion that for Revolut it makes no sense to open a business in Russia as Tinkoff Bank has already started the service that allows it to pay with a debit card in thirty currencies. Tinkov criticized the principles of Revolut. To his mind, in Russia, it will not work – removing the commission and laying the costs on investors. As Oleg Tinkov pointed out, the investor will sooner or later try to find out more details about the financing and the investments. Revolut cannot boast of the presence of innovative ideas, and after all fintech startups are characterized by them.

The critical opinion expressed by Oleg Tinkov was supported by Vladimir Verkhoshinsky, the Chief Executive Officer of Alfa Bank. He advised Revolut to postpone opening the business in Russia, as the company lacks scale.

The BTC value rose sharply on Monday in a couple of hours. On some trading floors, its value has risen to $ 7,700. The analysts believe that the rise has occurred against the background of the fake news that Binance is going to delist USDT.

As a result, the USDT value has fallen. In some places, the difference between the USDT and other stable coins reaches 20%. Bitcoin added 10% to its value, but the main altcoins grew by 3-7%. ETH over 5%, BCH 4%, XMR 3%.

We would like to remind you that last week overnight the Bitcoin exchange value lost 5% due to the statement of the Federal Reserve System (FRS) of the United States that the key rate will be increased. After that, the major US stock indexes fell sharply on the basis of trading. The fall in trading also influenced the cryptocurrency value, in particular, Bitcoin lost 5% overnight, 9% Litecoin, Ethereum and Bitcoin cash 10% of its value.

At present, the leading cryptocurrency is trading at $ 6,620, almost returning to the values of trading before its sharp fall last week.

In particular, this will affect the organizations which work with Forex, ICO and cryptocurrencies.

Already this spring, MasterCard considered these areas to be a high risk activity and set the period of opposition to the transaction by the issuing bank at 540 days. Then the same framework was set for the customers VISA.

Now the changes concern the operators who are with an uncertain regulatory field – these are the offshore and other unregulated companies. Some brokers and exchanges have already informed the clients about the temporary suspension of payments from the payment cards.

The changes for the MasterCard cards entered yesterday (on October 15), but for the VISA cards – will be adopted in December.

Dmitry Peskov, the special representative of the President of the Russian Federation for digital development, in an interview to the channel “Russia 24” announced about the intentions of Russia to implement the regulation of cryptocurrency in partnership with the intergovernmental organization against money laundering FATF (Financial Action Task Force).

Peskov pointed out that one of the main features of virtual money is their global nature. He explained that they were intentionally designed so as not to fall under the national regulatory tools. Therefore, the Russian authorities have concluded that it is necessary to act jointly by global regulators. The choice fell on FATF, since the risk of financial pyramids, as well as uncontrolled emission of cryptocurrency, is too great.

The representative of the president does not exclude the possibility of creating a separate direction of law for this sphere, drawing parallels with the antitrust regulation.

FATF is expected to develop official standards for cryptocurrencies at the end of this year. The Russian authorities are planning to adopt these recommendations aimed at combating the laundering of illegally obtained capital in cryptocurrency markets. However, Russia has yet to finalize its own laws relating to digital assets.

emCash is the first cryptocurrency of Dubai. It is based on the blockchain technology and is equivalent to a UAE dirham. By using emCash it will be possible to make payments in stores, to pay utility bills and pay for education. The UAE regulators are planning to issue digital money in free circulation. The residents of the city will be able to pay for services and goods through special PoS-terminals. The Dubai Economic Development Department has entrusted the promotion of national virtual money to the emCredit credit bureau. emCredit, in its turn, will carry out the task in partnership with the payment card operator Pundi X and the EboocFintech& Loyalty Labs.

However, before reaching the end user, the entire emCash ecosystem must receive an official approval from the regulators. For this reason, the cryptocurrency system, the special applications for mobile devices and PoS-terminals will be thoroughly tested. It must be noted that the launch of widespread use of emCash successfully coincided with the implementation of the state program of the Ministry of Finance of Dubai, which is aimed at launching a payment blockchain platform that will unite more than 38 government agencies, financial organizations and other institutions.

Thus, Dubai will become the first city in the world to provide its residents with solutions based on the blockchain technologies in wide access. As the emCredit management pointed out, the new tools will provide the citizens with convenience and will ensure the safety of both buyers and sellers.

As Matthew Allen, the deputy director of internal operations for the United States Immigration and Customs Police (ICE), pointed out the criminals are particularly defenceless when converting cryptocurrencies into fiat money.

In particular, he expressed this opinion during the speech in the Senate, describing the use of cryptocurrency by drug traffickers and the success of the unit in tracking transactions of digital assets of the criminals in money laundering.

“At the darknet markets and other “non-indexable” sites, the purchases are often paid for using cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin and Monero,” explained Allen.

Usually, the cryptocurrency exchanges and p2p platforms, as well as the ICO projects, can be used for money laundering, the policeman pointed out.

The sum of $ 5.7 million was spent on the analytics of transactions in cryptocurrency in the United States, of which $ 1.5 million was paid to the ICE analytical companies.

The Wall Street Journal again broke out in a sensation on the subject of cryptocurrency industry. The journal has published an article in which it is reported that the prices on cryptocurrency exchanges are subject to the influence of bots. The author of the article also states that the automated trading programs are also engaged in price manipulations, because they allow the traders to create the rules for participating in transactions. The software transfers applications to the exchanges and executes them automatically. The analyst of The Wall Street Journal found in this scheme the opportunities for illegal manipulation, especially in the field of cryptocurrency as the segment is not controlled by regulators properly.

The author of the article accuses the Digital Virgil Capital hedge fund in using bots on several cryptocurrency platforms around the world. The bots use a “spoofing” scheme, expose false submissions to force inverters to buy or sell assets, thereby having a direct impact on their value. Such tactics are prohibited in the United States at the legislative level.

The author also dealt with the program Quatloo Trader, which has special tools that allow small traders to engage in "spoofing". And if the New York Stock Exchange regularly monitors the market for such manipulations, identifies violators and punishes illegal trading activities, then cryptocurrency exchanges cannot boast of such.

This is confirmed by the president of CoinList startup Andy Bromberg. He pointed out that illegal price manipulation takes place, which badly affects the reputation of cryptocurrency and individual investors.

One of the prominent figures of the party “Рух новых сил”, the people's deputy of Ukraine Yuriy Derevyanko developed the bill “On Amendments to the Tax Code of Ukraine regarding the taxation of transactions with virtual assets in Ukraine.” According to the bill, the deputy proposes to exempt the representatives of the cryptocurrency industry from taxes until 2029.

The exemption from taxes applies to all the income received in the process of conducting the transactions with virtual money by legal entities and individuals. The deputy also proposed not to tax VAT transactions for the sale of mining equipment in the territory of Ukraine.

Yuriy Derevyanko believes that the cryptocurrency industry can take on the role of the locomotive for the entire economy of the country. Consequently, it is necessary to legalize cryptocurrencies and streamline the sphere. And, of course, to create all the conditions for the rapid growth of the segment.To make the market transparent and safe, attractive for investments and great potential for further growth.

The Ukrainian authorities put certain hopes on the cryptocurrency and are trying to create comfortable conditions for the industry. Next year it is planned to adopt the law which will consolidate digital money in the status of financial assets.

The diplomats from Belarus during the trip to South Korea invited Korean entrepreneurs to participate in their cryptocurrency projects. Andrei Dapkunas, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, pointed out that the country wants to build close cooperation with the Korean investors interested in cryptocurrencies and blockchain technologies.

“Intensification of bilateral cooperation in these areas will help both countries successfully respond to the challenges,” Dapkunas told the South Korean media.

He also added that the legislation already exists in the republic of Belarus for the information technology sector.

According to the information provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belarus, at the meeting during the trip to South Korea, the parties expressed the need to develop cooperation in the fields of economy, science, high technologies, and found the ways to enhance innovative and investment cooperation, promote contacts between small and medium-sized businesses of the two states, including the small and medium-sized cities of Belarus, as well as opportunities for cooperation on venture financing of priority scientific and technical developments.

We remind that Belarus was the first country of the former USSR which legalized the turnover of cryptocurrencies. At the end of December last year, the President of the Republic of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, signed the decree, which entered into force in March this year.