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​​Central Bank of Armenia Urged to Regulate Cryptocurrencies

Calls have been issued in Armenia for the central bank to do its job and put the country’s crypto space in order. Both government regulators and representatives of the financial sector insist that the industry needs regulation to prevent the use of cryptocurrencies for illicit purposes.

The State Revenue Committee (SRC), a regulatory body responsible for tax and customs services in Armenia, has turned to the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), urging the monetary authority to ensure the country’s crypto market is regulated. Speaking in the Armenian parliament, the head of the agency, Rustam Badasyan, elaborated:

Without regulating this area, we allow shady transactions to be made and there have been examples of both tax evasion and money laundering using cryptocurrencies.

The SRC official made the statement during parliamentary hearings devoted to the execution of last year’s state budget, the financial and banking news portal Armbanks reported on Wednesday. The committee works closely with the CBA and oversees the Customs Service and the Tax Service of the small South Caucasus nation.

Badasyan also noted that authorities are now unable to take any action regarding transactions with digital assets. He pointed to a case involving the exchange of a large amount of fiat cash for cryptocurrency, in which an investigation failed to produce any results due to the lack of a legal framework for this sphere.

His comments follow an earlier statement by the Executive Director of the Union of Banks of Armenia Seyran Sargsyan, who said that the issues associated with the identification of cryptocurrency users and the transparency of crypto transactions need to be addressed. The banker emphasized that financial institutions in Armenia do not work with digital coins and do not provide related services.

In March 2021, Armenia and the other members of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) failed to agree on a common approach towards the adoption of rules for the crypto economy in their jurisdictions, the crypto news outlet Forklog noted in a report. The calls for crypto regulation in Armenia come as ongoing discussions on the matter in Russia are delaying its regulatory framework.

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​​Bitcoin, Ethereum Technical Analysis: BTC Surges Above $30,000 to Start the Week

Following a weekend which saw bitcoin trading mainly in the red, prices rebounded to start the week. BTC was once again above $30,000 on Monday, while ETH climbed by over 5%.

The world’s largest cryptocurrency was trading higher on Monday, as prices once again rose above the $30,000 level.

Following a low of $29,574.45 on Sunday, BTC/USD rallied to a peak of $31,342.18 earlier in today’s session.

This move comes after the interim support level of $29,500 held firm over the weekend, with bulls using this as a point of re-entry.

Looking at the chart, prices have gone from this short-term support, to now breaking out of resistance at $30,600.

Overall, BTC is now trading at a six-day high, with many now hoping to see prices climb above the next hurdle, which is the $32,500 point.

As of writing, the 14-day RSI is trading at its highest level since April 6, which is also a resistance point, and unless broken, we may see today’s gains ease as the week progresses.


ETH also rebounded to start the week. However, prices continue to trade below $2,000 following last week’s sell-off.

Last week saw ETH/USD fall below $2,000, hitting a low of $1,742 in the process, but it has since strung together back-to-back sessions of gains.

As of writing, ETH has risen to an intraday peak of $1,903.99, which comes following a bottom of $1,777.13 the day prior.

The move comes as the 14-day RSI has marginally broken out of its recent ceiling at 43.70, and is trading at 44.30 as of writing.

Should price strength continue to increase, then we will likely see bulls making a run for the next resistance point at $1,950.

Although it has not yet occurred, the potential for an upwards cross of moving averages still exists, and this could be the catalyst that takes prices back above $2,000.

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​​Brazilian Judge Dismisses Bitcoin Scam Mastermind’s Attempt to Block His Extradition to South Africa

A Brazilian judge has ruled that the CEO of Mirror Trading International should remain in precautionary detention as authorities in South Africa have already furnished their Brazilian counterparts with the documentation that is required for extradition purposes. The judge also rejected Johann Steynberg’s attempts to use his Brazilian family as the basis for seeking an end to his precautionary detention.

A Brazilian judge recently dismissed an application by Johann Steynberg — the mastermind behind Mirror Trading International (MTI), one of South Africa’s biggest cryptocurrency scams — to have his precautionary detention revoked. In his application, the MTI chief executive had reportedly argued that since no formal extradition request had been made the court should at least place him under house arrest.

Steynberg also argued that when he left South Africa in December 2020, there was no outstanding warrant for his arrest and that the case itself failed to meet certain requirements which would make extradition possible. Also, as stated in the document released by the Brazilian judiciary, Steynberg had raised the point that he had since started a family in Brazil, hence placing him under house arrest would suffice.

However, in his ruling, Brazilian supreme court judge Andre Mendonça rejected arguments brought forward by Steynberg. The judge revealed that South African authorities had in fact “presented documentation aimed at formalizing the extradition request on April 14, 2022.”

In addition, the judge noted that a warrant for Steynberg’s arrest was also “issued on 03/01/2022 by the Justice of South Africa, as evidenced by Interpol’s Red Diffusion documents.” A document reportedly sent by the South African Public Ministry suggested that the MTI CEO was being probed for his role in the bitcoin scam when he left the country.

As previously reported by Bitcoin News, before disappearing in late 2020, Steynberg had handed control of MTI funds to his wife Nerina. Yet by the time he was arrested by Brazilian law enforcement in December 2021, the former MTI mastermind was reportedly in a relationship with a Brazilian woman.

Addressing Steynberg’s attempt to use his intimate relationship with the unnamed woman as justification for blocking his extradition, Mendonça said:

The fact that the person being extradited has taken up residence in Brazil and constituted a family does not, in itself, prevent the precautionary arrest and the future extradition. As well noted by the Attorney General’s Office, the ‘rule in extraditions is the precautionary arrest, due to the respect reciprocal between jurisdictions.’ The person being extradited, it must be repeated, is with the imprisonment in your country of origin.

The judge added that the fact that Steynberg had fake identity documents at the time of his arrest means he likely has an “intention to evade possible criminal liability.” The judge’s ruling also hints that Steynberg might still violate the conditions of a house arrest should the court accede to his request for one.

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​​Crypto-Related Lawsuits Rising in Russia, Criminal Cases Increase by 40%

Courts in Russia are hearing a growing number of cases around crypto assets, a new study has shown. About two-thirds of them have been launched under provisions of the country’s Criminal Code but civil cases represent a large share as well.

Lawsuits related to cryptocurrency, exchange of digital assets and coin minting have seen a serious increase in Russia over the course of last year, reaching a total of 1,531. The number comes from research conducted by the cybersecurity company RTM Group and quoted by Izvestia this week.

The majority of these, 954 cases, have been initiated under various articles of the Russian Criminal Code, the daily wrote on Friday. Another quarter of the proceedings, 365, are civil cases, almost one in 10 (141) is a bankruptcy, and 5% (71) are administrative cases, the article detailed.

The authors of the study note that most often cryptocurrency appears in criminal cases related to drug trafficking as those behind such deals would like their payments to remain anonymous — 738 such cases were filed last year. Other criminal proceedings include the laundering of illicit funds using digital coins.

Claims against unjust enrichment through crypto transactions form the majority of civil law disputes (42 cases). A common scenario is when a person transfers money to a third party to buy cryptocurrency but later receives a smaller amount than expected or agreed.

Meanwhile, the number of bankruptcy cases related to ownership of cryptocurrency has doubled in 2021, the researchers revealed. In these proceedings, the Russian judiciary refers to crypto assets as property and the sides are required to provide documents proving they own the coins.

The illegal use of electricity for cryptocurrency mining is considered a civil offense in Russia which entails the collection of debt. During the examined period, Russians running underground mining facilities had to pay 61.5 million rubles (over $1.1 million at current rates) in nine such cases.

To prepare its report, RTM analyzed published acts of courts of general jurisdiction and arbitration courts as well as information obtained from the official correspondence of various departments. The results from its study appear as authorities in Moscow continue to debate over the legal status cryptocurrencies should have in Russia.

​​South Korean Government Calls for Voluntary Regulations From Crypto Industry

The executive power and the ruling party in South Korea have urged the cryptocurrency industry for what officials describe as voluntary regulatory measures, a Korean media report revealed. The call was issued during a consultative meeting devoted to crypto assets.

Representatives of the South Korean government and the ruling People Power Party met on Monday to discuss issues related to the crypto space. The consultations were held in the aftermath of last month’s collapse of the terrausd (UST) algorithmic stablecoin and its sister coin terra (LUNA) that affected many South Koreans.

Aiming to prevent the negative consequences of such crashes and better protect investors, Korean officials and lawmakers are now considering the adoption of a new law for blockchain-based platforms, Arirang unveiled. They also urge the crypto industry to come up with its own regulations that would include safety mechanisms.

The report by the English-language TV network noted that South Korea’s crypto assets market stood at 55.2 trillion Korean won, or around $43 billion, at the time of writing. Furthermore, 24 cryptocurrency exchanges licensed in the country process a daily average of 11.3 trillion won (over $8.7 billion) in transactions, reflecting the rapid growth of the market in the past few years.

South Korean authorities, however, think that current regulations are insufficient as a response to the rapid expansion. That’s why the government and South Korea’s leading political force are calling on the sector to propose “voluntary regulatory measures” while many other nations are looking into the impact of digital currencies on their financial systems and economic policies.

More than a dozen crypto-related bills are now pending in the Korean National Assembly, Arirang added, and the country’s Financial Services Commission is planning to propose more legislation tailored to protect investors from the swings of the crypto market.

At the same time, the Governor of the Financial Supervisory Service Lee Bok-hyun has been quoted as emphasizing the need for a reasonable regulation system. Such as would allow the crypto asset market to have what he described as responsible growth.

​​SEC, State Regulators Probe Crypto Lender Celsius Over Accounts Freeze

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and several state regulators are reportedly investigating the decision by crypto lender Celsius Network to freeze withdrawals.

The U.S. SEC and securities regulators in Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, Texas, and Washington are investigating the decision by crypto lender Celsius Network to freeze withdrawals, Reuters reported Thursday.

Texas’ director of enforcement Joseph Rotunda explained that officials representing the five state securities regulators met Monday morning to begin the investigation following Celsius’ withdrawal freeze announcement Sunday night.

Noting that the investigation is a “priority,” Rotunda said:

I am very concerned that clients – including many retail investors – may need to immediately access their assets yet are unable to withdraw from their accounts.

“The inability to access their investment may result in significant financial consequences,” he stressed.

Rotunda said he and his team learned about Celsius’ accounts freeze from the company’s tweet and blog post Sunday night.

“Due to extreme market conditions, today we are announcing that Celsius is pausing all withdrawals, swaps, and transfers between accounts,” the company wrote.

Alabama Securities Commission Director Joseph Borg told the publication that the SEC has also been in communication with Celsius, adding that the crypto lender has been responsive to questions from the regulators.

Last year, regulators in a number of states, including Alabama, Kentucky, New Jersey, and Texas hit Celsius with a cease and desist order over the lender’s interest-bearing products, which they said should be registered as a security.

After freezing withdrawals, Celsius reportedly sought help from Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld, a law firm that specializes in financial restructuring. The crypto lender is also reportedly hiring Citigroup as an advisor.

Moreover, Ben Armstrong, aka Bit Boy, announced a class-action lawsuit against Celsius and CEO Alex Mashinsky on Wednesday via Twitter.

​​Iran to Shut Down Crypto Mining Farms Amid Record High Power Demand

Authorities in Iran plan to unplug licensed crypto mining facilities as electricity consumption in the country is reaching record highs. The mining farms will be cut off from the grid on Wednesday, the Islamic Republic’s Ministry of Energy announced.

Authorized crypto mining enterprises in Iran will have to unplug their power-hungry coin minting equipment from the beginning of Tir, the next month in the Iranian calendar, or Wednesday, June 22. Mostafa Rajabi Mashhadi, spokesman of the Ministry of Energy, announced the decision, quoted by Tehran Times.

The government official noted that the measure applies to 118 licensed mining farms currently operating in the Islamic Republic. The temporary restrictions will be imposed after electricity consumption in the country reached a record high of 62,500 megawatts (MW) during the peak hours last week.

Mashhadi added that power demand this week, which ends on Friday according to the local calendar, has been forecasted to exceed 63,000 MW. The energy ministry’s representative described these figures as significant and warned that they will lead to a limited electricity supply across the nation.

The authorities in Tehran legalized cryptocurrency mining as an industrial activity in 2019. Since then, dozens of companies have applied for a license from the Ministry of Industry and started extracting digital currencies, taking advantage of the low-cost energy offered by Iranian power plants.

Besides the approved mining operations, a growing number of Iranians have been setting up mining installations using subsidized household electricity to mint digital coins, further increasing the load on the Iranian power generation industry. The latter has been facing serious problems due to draughts caused by lower than expected rainfall and increased demand in the hot weather. A report in May revealed Iran has busted almost 7,000 illegal crypto farms.

The country’s electricity shortages and frequent blackouts last summer were partially blamed on increased power usage for mining and even licensed miners were ordered to shut down. They were allowed to resume operations in September, but then again asked to suspend activities in the face of a growing power deficit in the cold winter months.

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​​Bill Imposing Fines for Illegal Issuance and Exchange of Digital Assets Proposed in Russia

A bill introducing financial penalties for those who illegally issue or exchange digital financial assets has been filed in the Russian parliament. The legislation has been submitted by the sponsor of another draft law banning their use as a means of payment.

Persons and entities illegally issuing digital financial assets (DFAs), the current definition of cryptocurrencies in Russia, will have to pay hefty fines, according to a bill recently submitted to the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament.

If the legislation is adopted, the penalties will be imposed on companies that are not registered with the state as exchange or investment platform operators, the crypto news outlet Forklog reported on Thursday, quoting the document.

The fines range from a maximum of 5,000 Russian rubles (around $90) for individuals and 30,000 ($550) for officials, to between 700,000 – 1,000,000 rubles (over $18,000) for legal entities, the report details. Businesses that fail to comply with the regulations pertaining to digital rights (tokens) would face similar penalties, up to 700,000 rubles (almost $13,000).

The draft law is sponsored by Anatoly Aksakov, who chairs the parliamentary Financial Market Committee. The high-ranking deputy has been involved in the ongoing efforts to adopt a comprehensive legal framework for Russia’s crypto sector. At the moment, the industry is only partially regulated by the law “On Digital Financial Assets,” which went into force in January, 2021.

Aksakov was also behind another crypto-related bill filed earlier this month, which aims to ban payments with DFAs in Russia. While institutions in Moscow are still debating over many future regulations for cryptocurrencies, there is a wide consensus among officials that the ruble should remain the only legal tender in the country.

At the same time, an idea to allow crypto payments in small business transactions abroad, in the face of mounting financial sanctions, has gained support, even from the Central Bank of Russia which has consistently opposed the legalization of bitcoin and the like as a means of payment.

Another draft law, the bill “On Digital Currency,” which was proposed by the Ministry of Finance in February and has undergone multiple revisions since then, is supposed to regulate these matters. Delayed by ongoing discussions on its provisions, it is expected to be reviewed by Russian lawmakers during the fall session of the Duma.

​​Meta Launches Meta Pay, a Metaverse Dedicated Digital Wallet

Meta, the metaverse-based platform, has announced the launch of a new wallet directed to support value interaction in the metaverse. Meta Pay, a rebrand of the former Facebook Pay service, will keep fulfilling the same functions that Facebook Pay did in the past, but will be developed as a universal way of paying for goods and services using digital identities in the metaverse.

Meta is trying to solve the problem of transaction and value interactions in the metaverse. The company announced the launch of a new digital wallet that will support the economy of users in the upcoming iteration of Meta’s metaverse. The wallet, dubbed Meta Pay, will be an evolution of what’s known today as Facebook Pay, still supporting the array of payments it handles currently, but with a new focus on digital identity and proof of ownership.

According to Meta (formerly Facebook) CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Meta Pay will be a solution to two issues in the metaverse: accessibility to digital goods and proof of ownership. About this, he stated:

In the future, there will be all sorts of digital items you might want to create or buy — digital clothing, art, videos, music, experiences, virtual events, and more. Proof of ownership will be important, especially if you want to take some of these items with you across different services.

Zuckerberg stated that ideally, everything purchased in one part of the metaverse should be available on another platform, with the same functions and traits. This is one of the goals that Meta seeks to reach with Meta Pay: a sort of Web3 identity that links purchases of digital items to a singular digital identity. Zuckerberg explained:

This kind of interoperability will deliver much better experiences for people and larger opportunities for creators. That is, the more places you can easily use your digital goods, the more you’ll value them, which creates a bigger market for creators.

Furthermore, Zuckerberg argues that a universal payment method across the whole metaverse will be an opportunity for content creators, as more consumers will be available to purchase their content. However, this can only be achieved with a certain degree of standardization.

The company recently partnered with Microsoft and other companies such as Epic Games to launch an open standards group for all things metaverse, working towards establishing common points to make metaverses more interoperable in the future.

​​China Blockchain Alliance Executives: Virtual Currency the ‘Largest Ponzi Scheme in Human History’

The chairman of China’s Blockchain Service Network (BSN) Development Alliance Shan Zhiguang, and his colleague, insisted in a recently published op-ed that virtual currency is “undoubtedly the largest Ponzi scheme in human history.” However, they have said the “value of blockchain technology should not be ignored because of virtual currency.”


The chairman of the Chinese Blockchain Service Network (BSN) Development Alliance, Shan Zhiguang, and executive director He Yifan, have said virtual currency is “undoubtedly the largest Ponzi scheme in human history.” They also claimed that this Ponzi scheme has since morphed into one that is “no longer just about cash.”

In a recent opinion piece published by the People Daily Online newspaper, the BSN chairman and his colleague begin their attack on virtual currency and bitcoin by pointing to the fact it has been “bad-mouthed” by at least 90% of the 100 richest people in the world. The duo also gives the reasons which compelled them to similarly view BTC or virtual currency negatively. They wrote:

This type of Ponzi scheme can be classified as ‘equity-type,’ and it has three main characteristics: first, it is based on equity that can be denominated; second, the equity can be traded and circulated; finally, and most importantly, this equity is not Associated with any asset, productive labour, or social value, but is entirely fictional.


According to the duo, the equity in virtual currency equity Ponzi schemes is not linked to any real asset or labor hence the risk is “close to infinity.” When looking at the characteristics of virtual currency, Zhiguang and Yifan said it is apparent that these are consistent with those of a so-called equity Ponzi scheme.



Elsewhere in the article, the BSN chairman and Yifan use the example of dogecoin to show how just one influential individual can manipulate or control the value of a virtual currency.

“So it’s easy to understand that Musk can turn his hands on dogecoin as a cloud, and turn his hands into a rain. Just sending a tweet can make the price of virtual currency flat,” the duo claimed.

Despite their stance on virtual currency, Zhiguang and Yifan insisted in their opinion piece that blockchain technology, which anchors most cryptocurrencies, “should not be ignored.” The duo, however, suggested that regulation technology is still needed to ensure the blockchain plays “a huge role in various application fields.”

​​Meta Platforms to Sunset Novi Digital Wallet This Fall

The social media platform announced that the Novi digital wallet pilot would end on Sept 1, and advised all users to withdraw funds at their earliest convenience. No deposits into the wallet will be allowed after July 21, and users’ transaction history and other data will be inaccessible from Sept 1.

The Novi app will be taken down from app stores. However, technology from Novi developed over many years will have a place in the metaverse plans of Meta, the company told Bloomberg, having already tested non-fungible tokens in its Web3 efforts.

Meta’s foray into digital currencies was spearheaded in 2018 by David Marcus, who left the company in Nov 2021, and Morgan Beller, a former partner at Andreessen Horowitz.

Initially named Libra, the project aimed to help people store, transfer, and spend money internationally for a meager fee. Unlike bitcoin, Libra would be backed by low-risk assets, including U.S. Treasuries and bank deposits.

The project attracted key early backers, including Uber, Spotify, Vodafone, Visa, and MasterCard. To allay regulators’ fears regarding the project’s connection to Facebook, Meta’s previous name, Marcus and Beller created the Libra Foundation in Switzerland, of which Facebook was a member.

But Marcus was given the cold shoulder when he tried to woo Washington regulators in 2019. Key politicians voiced their distrust of Facebook, and soon, some early backers began pulling out.

Not long after that, Libra was renamed Diem, and Facebook’s digital wallet, which had previously been called Calibra, became Novi.

Diem said that the U.S. dollar would back the new eponymous currency. A pilot was planned for spring 2021 that would issue a small amount of Diem and launch Novi.

But the U.S. Treasury said “No,” and Marcus then launched the Novi wallet pilot with stablecoin Paxos (USDP) in Oct 2021, with plans to migrate to the Diem payments network.

The latter never materialized, and Diem’s assets were sold to Silvergate Capital this Jan. Silvergate will launch its stablecoin project later this year using Diem’s assets.

The Novi wallet catered to users in the United States and Guatemala. The local currency could be purchased with a debit card and sent to the wallet, where it would be stored in USDP. From there, users could send the funds to another wallet. The recipient could withdraw the money in their local currency.

After that, Meta launched Novi for WhatsApp in the U.S., where payments could take place over an encrypted chat.