🌐 Rosfinmonitoring has developed a service for tracking cryptocurrency transactions
At a meeting with Vladimir Putin, Director of Rosfinmonitoring Yuri Chikhanchin reported on the development of a service for tracking cryptocurrency transactions related to criminal activities.
The system was named "Transparent blockchain" and allows you to track and analyze cryptocurrency transactions, as well as identify the participants in the operation. At the same time, the official did not say which blockchains the service works with.
“We, together with law enforcement agencies and the Academy of Sciences, first of all developed a digital service that allows us to analyze crypto transactions. This will enable us to track these transactions in cryptocurrency, and most importantly, we are now working out signs and criteria that, in the general flow of transactions, could show us where the crime is. There are already criminal cases, " Chikhanchin said .
He stressed that when developing the service, Rosfinmonitoring worked with foreign colleagues, including those from Finland, Luxembourg, Liechtenstein, Belarus and Malta. Chikhanchin also spoke about the department's struggle with various cryptocurrency fraudulent firms:
“Taking into account the fact that several incomes of the population have fallen, various companies have emerged that offer the opportunity to make money quickly. In particular, together with the bank, the General Prosecutor's Office, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the FSB, the activity of the foreign company Antares Limited, which offered to invest money, invest in cryptocurrency, was suppressed.
The development of a system for tracking cryptocurrency transactions became known last summer. Then it was reported that 760 million rubles would be spent on the development of the service.
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🌐 MicroStrategy will buy bitcoins for another $ 1.05 billion
MicroStrategy continues to raise funds to buy BTC. Previously, it was assumed that the company would issue and sell bonds for $ 690 million, but in the end it raised $ 1.05 billion.
The bonds were issued and sold to qualified institutional investors in a private offering. The first batch of bonds was sold on February 18, and the remaining securities on February 19. The company said in a statement:
“Net proceeds from bond sales were approximately $ 1.03 billion after deducting discounts and commissions and placement costs paid by MicroStrategy. The company intends to use the funds received to purchase bitcoins. "
At the moment, 71,800 BTC are stored on MicroStrategy wallets, while the average purchase price was $ 16,110. Considering that over the last 24 hours the rate of the first cryptocurrency exceeded $ 56,000, the bitcoins bought by the company are estimated at $ 4 billion.
Recall that this is the second issue and sale of the bond by MicroStrategy - the first issue of securities for $ 650 million took place in December last year.
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🌐 Portuguese energy company Luzboa will start accepting bitcoins
Portuguese energy company Luzboa will begin accepting bitcoins as payment for electricity through the new Bit Spot payment system.
Luzboa President Pedro Morais Leitão said the new way to pay for electricity will be available this month. In the coming days, Luzboa will create a Bitcoin wallet to accept payments in cryptocurrency through the Bit Spot system. The company plans to immediately convert the received bitcoins into euros to protect against the volatile BTC rate. Leitau added that despite the volatility of cryptocurrencies, he is willing to take some risk.
The company's initiative is aimed at “capturing a niche in the market”, and not forcing all of its customers to switch to payments in bitcoins. Leitau explained that the new generation is interested in cryptocurrencies, so Luzboa is giving people the opportunity to use new payment methods. Today Luzboa serves over 5,000 customers.
Despite the lack of awareness of local regulators about the cryptocurrency industry, Portugal is becoming a crypto-friendly country. In 2014, the world's first bitcoin machine appeared in Lisbon . At the end of 2019, the Portuguese Tax Service announced that cryptocurrency trading and payments in bitcoin would not be subject to value added tax (VAT).
In addition, last year, the Portuguese government planned to create "technology free zones" for the development of blockchain, artificial intelligence and 5G. However, in general, the Central Bank of Portugal takes an observer position regarding cryptocurrencies and treats them with caution given their high volatility.
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🌐 Austrian regulator intends to tighten control over cryptocurrencies
The Financial Markets Authority (FMA) of Austria believes that due to the spread of fraud with cryptoassets, the requirements for the cryptocurrency business need to be tightened.
According to the Austrian regulator, over 60% of reported fraud cases in the country are related to cryptocurrencies. To attract gullible users, attackers use Telegram and TikTok to place advertisements.
FMA employee Klaus Grubelnik said the agency sees an urgent need for stricter control over the cryptocurrency industry. According to Grubelnik, the market was previously flooded with fraudulent offers of shares and gold. Now, given the popularity of cryptocurrencies, ransomware is switching to them. In addition, the crisis and pandemic are also creating conditions for the proliferation of cryptocurrency fraudulent schemes.
Austrian Finance Minister Hartwig Löger called for clear regulation of the cryptocurrency industry back in 2018 to prevent their use for illegal purposes. Löger's statements came after the organizers of the Optioment Bitcoin pyramid managed to lure about 12,000 BTC from the victims.
Despite the large number of cryptocurrency scams in Austria, traditional exchanges continue to host cryptocurrency products, furthering the adoption of digital assets. For example, last fall, the Vienna Stock Exchange Wiener Börse added support for exchange traded products (ETP) on BTC and ETH for the first time . This is fundamentally different from the situation in the United States, where trading in cryptocurrency exchange-traded funds is prohibited.
Last year, A1 Payment, one of the largest Austrian mobile operators, provided customers with the ability to pay for services with cryptocurrencies. In addition, in November 2020 Vienna University of Technology has concluded a partnership with Iota Foundation for joint research and technology blokcheyna Internet of Things (IoT).
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🌐 41% of Britons consider the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies and the stock market
According to 41% of UK residents, investing in cryptocurrencies is no more risky than buying stocks on the stock market.
According to a Piplsay survey of 6,070 UK residents over 18 years of age, many Britons believe that the risks of investing in cryptocurrencies are similar to those of investing in securities. However, 45% of respondents still consider cryptocurrency to be more risky than investing in stocks.
More than 40% of survey participants described cryptocurrency as a safe investment option, and 31% of those surveyed said they considered investing in it too risky. The remaining 27% of respondents are unsure about the security of digital assets.
About 30% of respondents cited the possibility of hacking or fraud as the main risk of dealing with cryptocurrencies, while regulatory issues raised concerns among 26% of survey participants. At the same time, only 19% of respondents are concerned about the volatility of crypto assets.
Despite the growing interest in cryptocurrency, the majority of respondents are still more likely to stay away from such investments - 57% said they have no desire to invest. Most Brits are not sure they understand how cryptocurrency works - 46% of survey participants said this.
About 35% of Gen Z (born 1997 to 2012) and millennials (born 1981 to 1996) believe they are good at cryptocurrencies, and 39% believe digital assets are safe. About 37% of Gen Zers and 27% of Millennials plan to invest in cryptocurrencies this year.
At the same time, 29% of representatives of generation X (born from 1965 to 1980) believe that they understand cryptocurrencies, and only 22% are confident in the safety of investments in cryptoassets. About 27% plan to invest this year.
46% of survey participants said large brands like Apple, Amazon and Tesco should accept payments in cryptocurrency. This indicates a growing demand for cryptocurrencies as a payment instrument.
As a reminder, according to a 2020 study by the Independent Reserve, 18.4% of Australians own crypto assets. The most popular cryptocurrency among the respondents is bitcoin.
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🌐 Elon Musk: "Bitcoin is bullshit, but less than fiat money"
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has gone over to the camp of crypto critics. Today he called Bitcoin a risky asset, and Tesla's purchase of BTC was allegedly independent of Musk's decision.
Recently, the head of Binance cryptocurrency exchange Changpeng Zhao expressed surprise at Musk's "fanatical" statements regarding Dogecoin cryptocurrency, while Tesla invested $ 1.5 billion in Bitcoin. Musk responded in the comments that Tesla's actions did not reflect his personal opinion.
Musk explained that he is an engineer, not an investor, and apart from Tesla, he has no shares listed on the stock market. In addition, Musk called Bitcoin a "less wacky" form of liquidity compared to cash. However, investing in bitcoin is a risky business even for companies from the S & P500 index. At the same time, Musk is convinced that today "only a fool" will not seek an alternative to fiat currencies, given the current interest rates.
A few days ago, Musk warned on Twitter about the high concentration of Dogecoin at several addresses. Musk invited large DOGE holders to sell most of their coins. When Musk hinted that he values Dogecoin more than Bitcoin, Blockstream's director of strategic affairs Samson Mow replied, "You're just sad that you didn't buy Bitcoin sooner." However, the Tesla executive finds it strange that an encrypted text file using cryptography can be exchanged for real goods and services.
Musk previously said that cryptocurrencies are used as a "bridge" between criminal money and laundered money, so digital assets are unlikely to become the main means of payment.
