Russia
Brittney Griner Freed In Prisoner Swap
HipHopWired Featured Video CLOSE Source: The Washington Post / Getty Brittney Griner is on her way home in time for Christmas. On Thursday (Dec. 8), the WNBA star was freed from a Russian penal colony in exchange for an infamous arms dealer. “I spoke with Brittany Griner,” said President Joe Biden in a statement from the White House. “She’s safe. She’s on a plane. She’s on her way home after months of being unjustly detained in Russia, held in intolerable circumstances.” Griner’s wife, Cherrelle Griner, was with Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris at the White House, which also took to social media to announce the news. According to various reports, Griner was released in exchange for the release of Viktor Bout, an arms dealer nicknamed the “Merchant of Death.” Griner was in custody for...
Bank of Russia wants to ban miners from selling crypto to Russians
The Russian central bank continues to maintain an extremely negative stance on cryptocurrencies, proposing to ban local miners from selling coins to local people. The Bank of Russia has supported the idea of legalizing cryptocurrency mining in Russia as part of a draft bill introduced in mid-November 2022. However, the Russian central bank wants to allow miners to sell their crypto only on foreign exchanges and to non-residents of Russia, the local news agency Interfax reported on Dec. 7. “We believe that cryptocurrency obtained as a result of mining can be sold exclusively using foreign infrastructure and only to non-residents,” the Bank of Russia’s press office reportedly said, adding: “In general, we adhere to the position on the inadmissibility of the circulation of digital currency on...
Proactive sanctions can help spare the ecosystem: Chainalysis exec
As many countries, entities and even individuals face international sanctions, the crypto industry seeks to find its place among increasing regulations. Digital currencies have often been mentioned as an avenue for those subject to sanctions to divert them, such as in the recent case of Russia. In such instances, exchanges and other industry players need to understand where they stand compliance-wise. Research out of Harvard even suggested that central banks can use Bitcoin (BTC) to fight off sanctions. Speaking to Cointelegraph’s managing editor Alex Cohen at the Israel Crypto Conference, Chainalysis head of sanctions Andrew Fierman said sanctions are nuanced depending on the many factors which surround the situation. “When you’re looking at countries like Iran and North...
Binance still serving Russians while seeking clarity on EU crypto sanctions
In the weeks following new sanctions from the European Union, Binance has kept its doors open for non-sanctioned Russian nationals, but that does not mean that the firm isn’t complying with EU sanctions, according to Binance’s newly-appointed sanctions executive. Western sanctions against Russia have been a major challenge for Binance from day one, and the firm has been working hard to comply, Binance’s global head of sanctions Chagri Poyraz told Cointelegraph in an interview. Since the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Binance has comprehensively blocked several non-government-controlled territories of Ukraine, including annexed regions like Donetsk and Luhansk, Poyraz said. “There is still an active war going on in the region,” he noted, adding that Binance continu...
What the Russia-Ukraine conflict has revealed about crypto
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has tested the capabilities of crypto in a real-world conflict where sanctions and inventive blockchain crowdfunding models abound. The war, which is drawing into its ninth month, has uncovered a raft of blockchain benefits, such as the capacity to support humanitarian endeavors. It has also revealed how much control national authorities can exert over crypto networks. Vadym Synegin, co-founder at IT and crypto solutions provider Tecor, told Cointelegraph that cryptocurrencies have a unique advantage in situations where there is an increased risk of money transfer interruptions due to the centralization of conventional systems. “With most markets controlled by centralized authority figures that can easily buckle under the political tensions, the crypto markets r...
Russian Appeals Court Upholds Brittney Griner’s 9-Year Prison Sentence
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / Getty American WNBA star Brittney Griner remains in a Russian prison after a decision today by a Russian appeals court to uphold her nine-year sentence on drug smuggling charges. The ruling now leaves Brittney Griner’s best chance for release in the hands of the United States government. According to The New York Times, the Biden Administration and representatives of Russian President Vladimir V. Putin has been engaged in secretive negotiations to possibly include Griner in an exchange of prisoners. The U.S. government offered a swap in June, but Russian officials refused to discuss it until all legal recourse was met. The article notes that the ruling by a three-judge panel means that Griner will soon be transported to a R...
Kazakhstan among top 3 Bitcoin mining destinations after US and China
For over a year, the oil-rich Central Asian country of Kazakhstan has maintained its position as the third-biggest contributor to Bitcoin (BTC) mining after surpassing Russia back in February 2021. As of January 2022, Kazakhstan contributed to 13.22% of the total Bitcoin hash rate, positioned right after the historical leaders the United States (37.84%) and China (21.11%), as shown below. Along similar timelines, Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance data estimated that Kazakhstan’s absolute hash rate contribution (monthly average) was 24.8 exahashes per second (Eh/s). Meanwhile, the US and China contributed 71 Eh/s and 39.6 Eh/s, respectively. The International Energy Agency (IEA), which is co-funded by the European Union, highlighted Kazakhstan’s heavy reliance on non-renewable ...
Kennedy Descendent Who Dated Taylor Swift Says He Fought in Ukraine
Conor Kennedy, Senator Bobby Kennedy’s grandson whose fling with Taylor Swift reportedly inspired songs on Red, says that he served in Ukraine’s International Legion and helped fight against Russia. “Like many people, I was deeply moved by what I saw happening in Ukraine over the past year,” Kennedy said in a social medium statement last week. “I wanted to help. When I heard about Ukraine’s International Legion, I knew I was going, and I went to the embassy to enlist the next day.” He added that “I wasn’t a great shot, but I could carry heavy things and learned fast. I was also willing to die there. So they soon agreed to send me to the northeastern front,” an area that includes the hotly-contested Donbas region where much of the fighting has taken place. Advertise...
Roger Waters Endangers Pink Floyd Catalog Sale with Ukraine, Israel Comments: Report
Pink Floyd have reportedly been shopping their back catalog for a potential half-a-billion dollar payday, but according to Variety, incendiary comments from co-founder Roger Waters in a recent interview with Rolling Stone could bring any hope of a deal to a halt. Back in August, the Financial Times reported Pink Floyd’s back catalog could fetch as much as $500 million from prospective buyers including Sony Music, Warner Music, BMG, and Primary Wave, as well as Hipgnosis Song Management, a music investment fund which has acquired rights to the catalogs of artists ranging from Neil Young to Justin Timberlake. Other artists who have sold their catalogs for hundreds of millions of dollars include Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, and Stevie Nicks. Though the potential deal would reported...
EU regulators ban cross-border payments from Russian crypto accounts
In a statement released on Oct. 6, the European Union introduced another set of sanctions against Russia due to the prolonged and recently escalated conflict in Ukraine. The new sanctions include a complete ban on cross-border crypto payments between Russians and the EU. This statement includes the prohibition of, “all crypto-asset wallets, accounts, or custody services, irrespective of the amount of the wallet.” New sanctions were installed as a response to Russia’s annexation of Ukrainian territory as the result of what the EU calls a “sham” referendum, along with troop mobilization and threats of nuclear escalation. The previous sanctions capped crypto payments from Russian to EU wallets at 10,000 euros (approximately $9,900). However, this new total ban on cross-border crypto...
Russia blocks OKX website for alleged unreliable financial information: Reports
The website of crypto exchange OKX was blocked in Russia by the state media monitoring service Roskomnadzor on Oct. 4. The agency told the TASS news agency that the website was blocked at “the request of the Prosecutor General’s Office for the dissemination of unreliable socially significant information of a financial nature.” Roskomnadzor told local news outlet RBC that OKX had “published information related to the activities of financial pyramids, as well as information on the provision of financial services by persons who do not have the right to provide them” under Russian law. Although the website is blocked in Russia, it remains freely accessible through a VPN. According to another local report, the administration of the OKX Russian-language Discord channel stated, “We do not r...
Russian Rapper Dies By Suicide After Being Drafted To Fight In Ukraine War
HipHopWired Featured Video Source: @mrwalkie / Instagram A Russian rapper opposed to the war in Ukraine reportedly died by suicide after being drafted. Walkie, 27, posted a video that served as a final testimony and suicide note. He reportedly jumped from a high-rise building to end his life Reports TMZ: 27-year-old rapper Walkie posted a video in which he said, “If you are watching this video, then I am no longer alive. I can’t take the sin of murder on my soul and I don’t want to. I am not ready to kill for any ideals.” Walkie went on … “I choose to remain in history forever. As a man who did not support what was happening I am not ready to take up arms and kill my own kind.” He had already served in the Russian Army, and despised the experience. This time around he tried to get a d...
