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The leadership of Kazakhstan is at a crossroads: there is still no final decision on the advisability of issuing a national digital currency (CBDC). In the language of officials, “research is being carried out in this direction.” And only in 2022 the Central Bank of the country will begin to create a token – if, of course, such a decision is made by the authorities of the republic.
And in the Russian Federation, everything is clear and understandable: law enforcement agencies are unanimously talking about the need to strengthen and tighten control over the holders of bitcoin and other virtual coins. So the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation announced an initiative to prescribe in the legislation a definition of the concept of “cryptocurrency”. According to the head of the department, Igor Krasnov, having solved the problem of the legal determination of the status of virtual currencies, the state will receive a mechanism for combating crimes in which digital assets appear.
Meanwhile, Arcane Research researchers are reporting a sharp increase in BTC trading volume as a result of the recent surge in volatility. So, last Saturday, the average daily amount of transactions with bitcoin soared above $ 15 billion.
The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation started talking about the confiscation of bitcoin
Russian law enforcement agencies report with enviable regularity that digital currencies are increasingly being used in criminal schemes. And the main danger is allegedly that they are controlled by anyone. Therefore, it is necessary to develop a mechanism for monitoring activity in the cryptosphere and create tools for blocking suspicious transactions.
The risks posed by digital currencies were personally pointed out by the head of the Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation, Igor Krasnov. He proposed to supplement Russian legislation with a clear definition of the concept of “cryptocurrency”. This is necessary for a unified and sustainable law enforcement, the Prosecutor General emphasized. Digital currencies often figure in the bribe-giving process, he said. And if a definition of cryptocurrencies appears in the criminal legal space, law enforcement officers will have leverage to apply sanctions against violators. In addition, the Prosecutor General’s Office also needs a tool to confiscate cryptocurrencies used in criminal schemes.
The initiative of colleagues is strongly supported by the Investigative Committee. Its head, Alexander Bastrykin, also spoke in favor of revising the criminal procedure legislation and empowering law enforcement officers to confiscate tokens.
Kazakhstan at a crossroads, but will not rush
In 2022, the republic’s authorities plan to finally decide whether it makes sense to rush with the release of digital tenge or is it more expedient to take a wait and see attitude.
Now the National Bank is studying options for launching a token and the consequences of its integration into the financial system. As the head of the National Bank Yerbolat Dossayev noted, the regulator has access to a test version of the platform for transactions with CBDC.
Token prototype testing has begun. The bank will publish preliminary results of testing the site and the innovative tool in the near future. Both Kazakhstani companies and banks and foreign partners of the regulator take part in the tests.
Dossaev emphasized that the National Bank will not rush to make a decision to establish a CBDC. It is not a task to be the first to bring digital currency to the market or to participate in a race with other countries. The regulator intends to analyze in detail all scenarios for integrating a token into the banking sector. It will be possible to talk about the practical implementation of digital tenge only in the absence of systemic risks. The final decision will be announced by the National Bank until December 2022.
At the same time, the head of the Central Bank admitted that many countries are following the path of creating a CBDC. This is a global trend and will contribute to the modernization of the global financial sector.
Don’t intimidate investors with sales
One of the most important events in December, of course, was the Saturday sale on the crypto market. On that day, the average daily Bitcoin trading volume soared above $ 15 billion, says Arcane Research.
A powerful wave of large-scale liquidation of positions swept across the futures market, which came as a surprise to many traders who were expecting a quiet end of the week. Nevertheless, there was no disaster, and this fact speaks of the maturity of bitcoin as an asset class. Moreover, large investors – whales – bought up the December drop and began to withdraw cryptocurrency to OTC wallets or DeFi applications.
According to IntoTheBlock, the BTC stock balance began to decline almost immediately after Saturday’s reset. The whales sent 4,420 bitcoins worth $ 210 million for cold storage. The accumulative tactics again became relevant, which contributed to a trend change and BTC’s return to values above $ 50,000.
In a recent report by Deribit Insights, it is highlighted that Saturday’s crash had several significant sources and reasons – in particular, large sales on spot exchanges, as well as expiration of monthly BTC futures and options. The consequences could be very serious.
But the subsequent prompt rebound and stabilization of the exchange rate convincingly indicate that the large players instantly regrouped and switched to hedging risks, which contributed to the current weakening of volatility.
Sources: Arcane Research, Deribit Insights, CoinTelegraph, RIA Novosti, Bitcoinist
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