Daria Solovieva
UKRAINE
The Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine’s parliament, passed the virtual assets law last week, paving the way for the legal market for cryptocurrencies in the country. Ukraine is among the top five countries in the world in terms of crypto users and it’s also revising its tax code to “fully launch the market of virtual assets.” [Source: Tech Ukraine]
Aleksandr Volodarsky, CEO of a platform for freelance developers called Lemon.io, wrote a Twitter thread sharing the steps his company is taking to protect their employees during an escalating conflict with Russia. [Source: India Times]
CRYPTO
Russia’s Finance Ministry submitted a restrictive crypto regulation to the government on Monday, under which the use of cryptocurrencies as a payment on Russian soil will be prohibited and digital currencies will be considered solely as an investment instrument. However, the bill also provides for a “special register of exchanges and exchange offices that will be able to conduct operations connected with organizing the circulation of digital currencies.” [Source: TASS]
MARKET REPORT
Russia’s economics ministry published a market analysis of the state of high-tech industry in Russia and abroad, noting strong dependence on imports, negative influence of sanctions and shortage of qualified talent. While the report identifies the U.S. and China as leaders in most categories, they identify Russia “in the top ten” when it comes to space technologies and new material technologies, among others. [Source: Kommersant]
SPACE TECH
Roscosmos plans to create a space debris recycling facility at the Russian Orbital Service Station. The idea is in its early stages and the agency did not share a timeline for the center’s launch. [Source: TASS]
TRANSPORT
Russian scientists developed a method allowing autonomous robots to adjust their own wheels and cameras for better navigation. Their research was published in the Applied Sciences journal. [Source: TASS]
IT
Kaspersky Lab increased its stake from 47% to 61.05% in New Cloud Technologies, the developer of the Russian MyOffice software. According to analysts, the percentage of domestic office software could increase up to 40% by 2026, fueled by government’s efforts to support local companies and higher costs of international products due to sanctions. [Source: RBC]
Russia ranks second in the world after Indonesia in terms of the number of Android phones with preinstalled viruses, according to Trend Micro’s analysts. They estimate Russia has over 16,000 of such smartphones. [Source: Ferra.ru]
More than five million developers are using Kotlin, a programming language created in St Petersburg. The language was developed by a small team of 10, led by Andrei Breslav. It’s taught at 200 universities around the world. [Source: Topspb.tv]
RETAIL
Customers’ price sensitivity and rising costs are already driving Russian producers to reduce packaging size this year. The volume of coffee, milk products, sweets and pasta products has decreased by 5 to 50 grams, Kommersant reports. [Source: Kommersant]
SOCIAL MEDIA
Russian social network VKontakte has developed a new algorithm that groups the news feed into themes. The feature is available via the new version of the mobile app. [Source: Kommersant]
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