January 2022 in numbers: NFT boom contrary to the fall of cryptocurrencies, Fantom strengthening and FTX jerk to $ 32 billion

Fireblocks cryptocastocal service provider as part of an investrae of the E series when assessing $ 8 billion. The round was headed by D1 Capital Partners and Spark Capital.

$ 400 million

FTX cryptocurrency exchange as part of the round of series C. The rating of the platform reached $ 32 billion.

$ 400 million

FTX US following the results of the round of series A. The company was estimated at $ 8 billion.

$ 358.9 million

Developer NFT-IGR Animoca Brands. The round led Liberty City Ventures, the company’s rating to the round amounted to $ 5 billion.

$ 300 million

NFT marketplace Opensea as part of the round of the series C. The platform was estimated at $ 13.3 billion.

$ 150 million

$ 110 million

Supplier of cryptocurrency data LUKKA based on the results of the round of the E series. The company was estimated at $ 1.3 billion.

Regulation

In a report on cryptocurrencies, the Bank of Russia proposed prohibiting their appeal and mining. The regulator’s statement was caused by a strong resonance among ordinary users and even legislators. The situation was commented by President Vladimir Putin. We recall the chronology of events:

January 20thThe Bank of Russia submitted a report “Risks of cryptocurrencies and possible regulation measures” and proposed prohibiting the appeal and mining of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation. Experts called the initiative “step towards the hopeless lag of the country”.

• The head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market Anatoly Aksakov said that there was no consensus on cryptocurrencies in the State Duma.
• The founder of Telegram, Pavel Durov, said that the Central Bank’s initiative will lead to outflow from the country of IT specialists and destroy high-tech industries.

January 24The State Duma said that the position of the Central Bank risks putting Russia a laughing stock, and among the members of the working group on regulation, none of the authorities supported the ban.

• The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation opposed the prohibition of digital assets.
• Anatoly Aksakov announced the need to make a balanced decision to legalize the turnover of cryptocurrencies and mining, the taxation of which can provide the budget “up to several billion rubles”. He suggested legalizing cryptocurrencies within the framework of the Law on Experimental Legal Regions in order to evaluate the work of infrastructure elements under rigid control.
• The deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Countering Corruption Andrei Lugovoi denied the pressure of the FSB on the Central Bank and gave a forecast – regulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation will be approved until the end of 2023.

• Criticism retorted in the Central Bank – the regulator insisted that the initiative was aimed at preventing the withdrawal of capital from the country into an “illegal economy”.
• The situation was commented by Vladimir Putin – President of the Russian Federation called on the authorities to find a compromise. He noted that the Central Bank does not stand in the way of technological progress, and he introduces digital technologies. According to the head of state, Russia has competitive advantages in mining – electricity surplus and well -trained personnel.
• The head of the Tatarstan Ministry of Tatarstan, Ayrat Khairullin, proposed to make Kazan with a pilot zone for testing the possibilities of regulating the cryptocurrency market in the Russian Federation.

• The Ministry of Finance proposed its own regulation concept, which involves conducting operations with digital assets through banks, full identification of users and tracking transactions. Control over operations is supposed to be carried out on the basis of banking infrastructure.
• A VTsIOM survey among 1600 citizens of the Russian Federation over 18 years old showed that a third of Russians supported the ban on cryptocurrencies.
• Rosfinmonitoring agreed with the position of the Ministry of Finance, but did not agree.

• Lugovoi said that a previously developed bill on the regulation of cryptocurrencies implies the mandatory testing of investors for operations for a total of more than 600,000 rubles a year and the provision of electricity to miners in tariffs for legal entities. In parallel, according to Lugovoi, the government is preparing amendments to the Tax Code regarding cryptocurrency declaration.
• The Central Bank of the Russian Federation saw additional risks from the legalization of mining – the demand for infrastructure for conducting operations with cryptocurrencies, which enhances the negative effects for bypassing regulation, and the adverse effect of mining on the energy sector and ecology.
• The deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation Dmitry Medvedev said that the position of the Central Bank on Bitcoin Rezonne, but attempts to ban the opposite effect.
• The Central Bank of the Russian Federation was mandatory to declare cryptocurrencies in case of a ban. “When selling digital currency on foreign exchanges, citizens should remember reporting on Russian banks”.
• The Ministry of Cyphs of the Russian Federation said that the restriction of cryptocurrency turnover is contrary to the policy of supporting the IT industry in Russia.

On January 28, the media also announced the approval of the Deputy Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Chernyshenko Roadmap for the regulation of the cryptocurrency market until the end of 2022, which meets the Fatf standards. The document prepared by the government provides for:

• determination of the status of market participants and the procedure for their activities, as well as the appointment of a controlling body;
• development of the mechanism of registration and reporting of organizations through which virtual assets in the Russian Federation are converted;
• the introduction of administrative or criminal liability for crimes using cryptocurrencies, in particular for the illegal turnover of assets and evasion of information about operations with them;
• creation of a mechanism for checking the reliability of the information provided by digital currencies;
• Mandatory registration of crypto platforms in the Russian Federation by analogy with Internet companies.

On February 1, information appeared on the assignment of Chernyshenko to include issues related to the legal status of mining in the roadmap on the regulation of cryptocurrencies.

• The Ministry of Finance will again consider the proposal for the verification of users of non -kastodial wallets.
• SEC promised to strengthen the supervision of cryptocurrency exchanges.
• The media learned about the plans of the White House to speed up the development of cryptocurrency regulation.
• In Congress, they were concerned about the influence of mining on energy consumption.

The main events of the month

Twitter integrated the possibility of adding NFT as profile avatars. At the first stage, the option is available to subscribers of the Twitter Blue premium service after binding the Ethereum-pichest to the social network on devices with iOS support.

Binance cryptocurrency exchange has announced new purposes for the further development and strengthening of its positions in the Russian Federation and Ukraine.

• The position of GR director in Russia and the CIS will be occupied by Olga Goncharova. Over the past seven years, she headed the Department of Collection and Processing of Reporting in the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.
• The director of the Binance in Russia is appointed co-founder of the TokenBox crypto funds and the Definition blockchain communities Vladimir.
• In Ukraine, the post of general manager will be occupied by Kirill Khomyakov. Earlier, he was engaged in the development of business in Ukraine and Europe of the FISERV financial services provider and was the head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Projects of Ukraine.

January 17 Crypto Cryptos.COM has stopped withdrawing funds due to “suspicious activity” on user accounts. Analytical services reported a hacker attack and estimated the damage at more than 4800 ETH or $ 15 million, but in the company refuted this information. Later, onchain-researchers found another 444 BTC on hackers wallets.

A few days later, the exchange recognized the loss of funds and opened the breakdown details, as well as the amount of stolen assets – 4836.26 ETH, 443.93 BTC and about $ 66,200 in other currencies in other currencies. The total damage amounted to almost $ 34 million. According to the report, the incident affected about 483 users – they have already been compensated in full.

The Central Bank presented the report “Cryptocurrencies: trends, risks, measures” in which he suggested:

• establish responsibility for violation of the ban on the use of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment for goods, work and services;
• Enter the ban on investing finorganizations in cryptocurrencies and related financial instruments, as well as the use of Russian financial infrastructure to carry out operations with them.

The ban on the ownership of digital assets by the regulator is not provided, as well as their acquisition using foreign infrastructure.