The Russian prime minister ordered the government to establish rules regarding regulating cryptocurrencies to facilitate cross-border payments with them. The official also requested the legislative assembly to introduce policies to regulate the issuance and circulation of crypto assets in the Eurasian country.

The Russian government recently said it wants rules to allow cross-border payments with cryptocurrencies. For that reason, Mikhail Vladimirovich Mishustin, the Russian Prime Minister, ordered regulators to review the regulation of crypto assets.

The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and the Ministry of Finance have agreed to legalize cryptocurrencies as a cross-border payment method. Alexei Moiseev, deputy finance minister, said that the CBR had rethought the focus on those assets due to the changes in the political situation.

Moiseev also stated that adopting cryptocurrencies as a method of cross-border payments allows the Russian population to diversify their economy. However, he clarified that they would introduce a regulatory framework that combats money laundering and terrorism financing.

In this sense, Moiseev considers enabling the operation of local cryptocurrency services in the Eurasian country important. He pointed out that this situation forces many citizens to turn to foreign platforms to open their crypto wallets.

However, the CBR remains against the legalization of cryptocurrency exchanges and crypto assets as a method of payment. The financial institution considers that crypto assets contribute to illicit activities like money laundering and terrorism financing.

Russia Plans to Establish Rules for Cross-Border Cryptocurrency Payments

The Russian prime minister requested the Duma (legislative assembly) and other authorities to create policies to regulate the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrencies. Likewise, he asked the regulators to finalize the regulations on mining activity and cross-border transactions with crypto assets.

The official stressed that there must be an agreement between various entities regarding the next cryptocurrency regulatory bill. The Ministry of Finance, the Central Bank, the anti-money laundering authority Rosfinmonitoring, the Federal Tax Service, and the Federal Security Service must work together.

The Russian government must put the regulations into force before the end of 2022 but must have the draft document ready before December 1^st. In addition, the above entities must reach a consensus on December 19^th to allow the new law to work well.

Cryptocurrencies play a relevant role in the world economic system, which Russia is beginning to take more seriously. The sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union led it to rethink the regulation of cross-border payment with those assets.

The decision of Russia to allow the mining of cryptocurrencies and cross-border payments with them is only one example of what is happening worldwide. Regulators and politicians in many countries have become aware of their influence, which has led them to work on creating regulations to control them.

Meanwhile, Bitcoin is trading at around USD 20,093 and has accumulated a 4.2% gain over the past week. While its daily trading volume is above USD 38.54 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 384.80 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar

The NFT industry will be able to boast of using a clean Blockchain.

The Ethereum Merge is here and many debates have already been opened before its launch that will continue after its staggered launch. That Ethereum changes its consensus protocol to Proof-of-Stake (PoS) could be considered one of the most important events in the crypto universe, obviously, this brings with it a lot of speculation and misinformation, here we will deal with the events that will occur, and the consequences derived from such an experiment.

It is important to note that the decision of the developers to seek to change their original consensus protocol, Proof-of-Work (PoW), to the new PoS has been in the making for several years, with Beacon Chain, the Ethereum Blockchain branch responsible for using PoS, released on December 1, 2020,

for development and testing. In short, the developers have not responded to current events, but to what they think is best for the second highest valued Blockchain by capitalization.

It is indisputable that the transformation from PoW to PoS will cause notable changes in the perception of Ethereum as a network from different points of view: economic, environmental, tokenomics, competition with other cryptoactives, legal, centralization versus decentralization. Ultimately, the switch from Ethereum to PoS is a turning point for the Blockchain co-founded by Vitalik Buterin, as well as for the whole crypto community.

Ethereum Becomes a Sustainable Asset, while Bitcoin Stands Alone in Danger

One of the most notorious and visible aspects of establishing PoS as a consensus mechanism will be the radical reduction in the energy consumption that the Ethereum Blockchain will need.

Several studies conclude that Ethereum will consume 99.95% less electricity after the implementation of PoS through Merge compared to current use with PoW. This fact is impossible to ignore and in itself transforms the rhetoric about Ethereum as the opening it can be for investment in its Blockchain.

An immediate effect of the transformation will be how the media pressure will focus even more on Bitcoin due to the debate about the supposed environmental damage it causes. This fact will reassure investors that due to the use of PoW they did not dare to invest in Ethereum, an ideal example of this would be when Tesla withdrew from its initial bet to establish Bitcoin as a means of payment after various pressures due to its carbon footprint.

With PoS, Ethereum has a free hand for any investor, especially investors who must follow the ESG standard, to inject capital by buying the token or in companies related to Ethereum activity. In this way, Bitcoin is left alone in the face of media danger while Ethereum gets rid of one of the most controversial issues in recent years regarding cryptocurrencies.

Who Will Benefit from the Exodus of Ethereum Miners?

Like any evolution, there are always groups that are negatively affected by the new conditions. Thus, various groups of Ethereum miners have tried to boycott the event, seeking to abolish EIP-1559, or have threatened a new Ethereum fork.

However, the efforts seem to have been in vain, although they show the discontent of relevant actors in the crypto industry.

Meanwhile, the migration of Ethereum to Ethereum Classic, the original Blockchain that will continue to function through PoW, seems like the easiest destination as Vitalik Buterin already pointed out.

By Audy Castaneda

On-chain analytics legend Willy Woo claims BTC has yet to hit a macro bottom.

The prolonged bear market is testing even the most passionate holders. Many are supported by regular doses that come from on-chain analysis. However, it appears that Bitcoin has yet to bottom out.

That’s according to Willy Woo, one of the most respected on-chain analysts in the crypto space. To substantiate his claim, he posted a series of tweets today. Here we find 3 indicators according to which Bitcoin has not yet bottomed.

Has one of Bitcoin’s biggest supporters suddenly turned bearish? Or are we all looking at on-chain analytics too optimistically, and Willy Woo is just trying to regain lost footing?

Bitcoin Has Already Bottomed, Right?

In a regular on-chain analysis provided by BeInCrypto, they have repeatedly pointed to indicators that Bitcoin has already reached, or is very close to reaching, the macro bottom of the current bear market. In last week’s review, we outlined 4 on-chain indicators that, based on historical data, seem to confirm a bottom has been reached.

Among these indicators, we find Hash Ribbons, Dormancy Flow, Puell Multiple or Realized Losses. Additionally, the MVRV Z-score has recently been at record lows. Even a relatively new indicator called the Pi Cycle Bottom supports the narrative that the BTC macro bottom has already been implemented.

Willy Woo: Have We Hit Rock Bottom?

Despite this data, Willy Woo published a series of tweets today. Each of them began with the question “Have we hit rock bottom?” And it seems that the content of each of them answers no!

The first indicator Willy Woo points out is Cost Basis. There he compares the cost basis of buying BTC for short-term and long-term holders. It turns out that the historical bear market lows of 2015 and 2019 occurred only when short holders achieved a lower cost basis than long holders.

Woo further states that this is exactly what happened in 2019. However, in 2015 the final capitulation of BTC took place in this area (red).

Currently, on the Cost Basis chart, the red line for short-term holders has not yet crossed the blue line, which represents long-term holders. Once this happens, Bitcoin could make a final capitulation and reach a macro bottom below the current level of $17,622.

Bear Market Accumulation

The second indicator used by Willy Woo is Bear Market Accumulation. The analyst quantitatively defines accumulation as “currencies moving away from sellers to urgent buyers”.

Willy Woo compares the size and duration of accumulation periods, based on a Bitcoin chart he shared on Twitter. It turns out that the current accumulation has reached just over half the level of all previous accumulation periods.

Furthermore, the macro lows on the Bitcoin chart appeared only after the accumulation peak was reached.

Cost Basis Density Map

The last indicator to suggest that the bottom has not yet been reached is the Cost Basis Density Map. This chart is accompanied by a blue line that represents the percentage of coins experiencing a loss. In other words, your purchase costs were higher than the current price of BTC.

Willy Woo says that currently “the market has not felt the same pain as previous funds.” He points out that today only 52% of coins record losses. By contrast, during the macro lows of previous bear markets, it was 61%, 64%, and 57%.”

In a comment on his own tweet, he states: “History does not need to repeat itself, especially in the modern age with available futures coverage that is not picked up on-chain.”

He further adds that, for 60% of coins to currently record losses, the price of Bitcoin would be $9,100.

By Audy Castaneda

Some upset cryptocurrency holders think the censorship sets a bad precedent, but Coinbase seeks to comply with any orders from regulators. Some concerns about the centralization of Lido Finance have arisen, while four centralized cloud service providers control Ethereum nodes.

Some crypto community members criticize Coinbase for censoring the smart contract for its Wrapped Staked ETH (cbETH).

The Coinbase smart contract shows that the Wrapped Stake ETH has a blacklist feature. That allows the centralized cryptocurrency exchange to censor some addresses it deems necessary. The exchange censors wallets that violate user agreements and can freeze their funds.

Other cryptocurrency companies like peer-to-peer payments technology company Circle censor some addresses. The issuer of USD Coin (USDC) has frozen funds related to the Tornado Cash mixing service. The company blocked 75,000 USDC held by users linked with the Ethereum mixing platform.

Some cryptocurrency holders that believe the censorship sets a bad precedent will feel upset with the measure. Meanwhile, Coinbase has sought to work with the authorities to comply with any orders from regulators.

It Is the First Time CEO Armstrong Has Suggested Censorship

Some cryptocurrency community members have referred to previous comments by Brian Armstrong, the CEO of Coinbase. In August 2022, he said they could shut down the staking service instead of censoring it if regulators requested it.

The executive said that the cryptocurrency exchange would address that hypothesis but also noted that a better alternative would produce a more favorable outcome. He pointed out that he had to focus on the whole picture as there may even be a legal challenge.

The Cryptocurrency Community Thinks the Ethereum Staking Needs More Decentralization

Coinbase will become one of the most prominent participants on the Ethereum network, along with Kraken and Binance. The three cryptocurrency companies account for almost 30% of all ETH stakes, with 15%, 8.5%, and 6.75%, respectively.

Some concerns about the centralization of Lido Finance have arisen since it needs more decentralization as one of the main staked ETH parties. Meanwhile, centralized cloud service providers AWS, Hetzner, OVH, and Oracle Cloud keep over 66% of Ethereum nodes under control.

Blockchain analytics platform Nansen reported on the distribution of staked ETH, stating that most of it is unprofitable. However, interested parties can sell their ETH after the implementation of the Shanghai upgrade 6 to 12 months after the Merge.

Regulators Influence the Decisions of Cryptocurrency Exchanges

The relevance of decentralized cryptocurrencies is increasingly evident in the economic system, which regulators know well. Many governments struggle to control the use of those assets, threatening to shut down platforms that do not comply with their requirements.

That situation has forced some exchanges to become centralized, against the original principles of freedom and privacy of cryptocurrencies. In the case of Coinbase, it has censored some addresses it believes have violated user agreements.

Meanwhile, Ether is trading at around USD 1,607 and has accumulated an 8.8% loss over the last 24 hours. While its daily trading volume is above USD 22.11 billion, its market capitalization is about USD 193.08 billion, according to CoinGecko.

By Alexander Salazar