Media outlets have reported the outcomes of three primary races in Missouri and Michigan, influenced by contributions from the Fairshake Super PAC or its affiliates, with a fourth race in Washington still undecided.
As of August 7, reports confirmed that Democrat Wesley Bell defeated incumbent Cori Bush in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District primary, Bob Onder secured the Republican nomination for Missouri’s 3rd, and Shri Thanedar won the Democratic primary in Michigan’s 13th. Votes were still being counted for the Democratic primary in Washington’s 6th Congressional District at the time of publication.
Fairshake and its affiliates, the Defend American Jobs PAC and the Protect Progress PAC, invested approximately $4 million combined into these four primary races to support pro-crypto candidates for the U.S. House of Representatives or oppose those with anti-crypto stances. Of this, $1.4 million was spent on opposing Bush, $250,000 on supporting Onder, and $1 million on supporting Thanedar.
“Cori Bush has now become the latest anti-crypto, Elizabeth Warren-endorsed lawmaker to lose their seat in Congress,” stated Fairshake spokesperson Josh Vlasto. “The crypto and blockchain community will continue to support candidates who believe in innovation and job creation.”
In Washington’s 6th Congressional District, Emily Randall, supported by a $1.5 million media buy from Protect Progress, was leading with roughly 62% of votes counted. If victorious, she could face Republican Drew MacEwen in the November general election.
Hilary Franz, trailing against MacEwen and Randall, criticized the influence of Super PACs on X during the primary night. Her campaign manager, Eve Zhurbinskiy, had previously suggested that Protect Progress was a “MAGA-funded Super PAC” aiming “to buy members of Congress” with financial influence.
“Out-of-state Super PACs spent over $2.4 million to buy this seat,” Franz said on August 6. “Despite this unprecedented influx of dark money, our volunteers and supporters have kept this race too close to call.”
These August 6 races followed earlier primaries in Arizona, where Fairshake-backed candidates lost on July 30. Defend American Jobs and Protect Progress invested $1 million in media buys for Republican Blake Masters and Democrat Andrei Cherny, but both were defeated within their respective parties.
In Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District, Protect Progress spent around $1.3 million to support Democrat Yassamin Ansari over Raquel Terán. At the time of publication, the race was extremely close, likely heading to a recount, with Ansari leading by fewer than 100 votes.
Buying a “strategic reserve” of Bitcoin would be another “Louisiana Purchase moment” for the United States, according to Michael Saylor, the outspoken co-founder of business intelligence company MicroStrategy. Speaking on CNBC on August 6, Saylor endorsed Wyoming Senator Cynthia Lummis’ proposed BITCOIN Act, which aims to compel the US Treasury to gradually accumulate 1 million BTC, almost 5% of the total supply.
“Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory for $15 million in 1803 and nearly doubled the size of the United States,” Saylor remarked. “Bitcoin is scarce, desirable digital property. It’s a great idea to trade a little bit of currency or paper for someplace that billions of people are gonna want to be in 100 years.”
Saylor’s company, MicroStrategy, owns approximately $8 billion worth of BTC. He has consistently been bullish on Bitcoin and recently predicted that its price could reach approximately $13 million per coin by 2045. This forecast was made during his keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on July 26.
The Bitcoin 2024 conference, which Saylor described as “very catalytic and marked an inflection point for Bitcoin,” attracted significant attention from political figures, including US presidential candidates, governors, senators, and house members who voiced their support for the digital asset. “Now, it’s possible to discuss nation-states holding Bitcoin on the balance sheet. And if nation-states are going to buy it, then it’s reasonable for institutions, corporations, and individuals to buy it as well,” Saylor told CNBC.
Saylor has urged investors to become “triple maxi” BTC bulls, advocating for pouring all available resources into BTC with the goal of achieving a nine-figure net worth in the coming decades.
His comments came just one day after the entire crypto market experienced a $510-billion drop in total market capitalization during a market crash. Despite Bitcoin’s approximate 18% price decline, it has shown partial recovery. Notably, long-term investors have remained resilient, with BlackRock’s iShares Bitcoin Trust (IBIT) experiencing zero net outflows on August 5, despite the market turbulence.
Bitcoin (BTC) aimed to reclaim $62,000 on August 3, as markets showed signs of recovery after a significant liquidation event.
Data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro and TradingView indicated a 3% rebound in BTC price following multi-week lows of $60,435 on Bitstamp.
This came on a day of heavy losses for global stocks, with Japan’s Nikkei dropping 6%, setting a pessimistic tone for Wall Street. Disappointing U.S. employment data added to the panic.
Bitcoin itself lost nearly $5,000, breaching several key support levels, including the short-term holder cost basis.
Liquidations surged as a result, with monitoring resource CoinGlass reporting a total crypto longs wipeout of $230 million on August 1 and 2.
“The yields are falling off a cliff in the U.S. markets as the job reports came in astonishingly bad,” Michaël van de Poppe, founder and CEO of trading firm MNTrading, commented on X.
“Slight panic across the board, as the markets are pricing in a substantial recession for the U.S.”
Van de Poppe suggested that the recent events likely increased the chances of the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates at its next meeting in September, a move seen as bullish for crypto and risk assets.
“One thing is for certain: Rate cuts for September are confirmed,” he concluded.
Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., also known as RFK Jr., argues that U.S. policymakers are increasingly recognizing Bitcoin’s inevitability and are rushing to establish a coherent digital asset strategy to maintain America’s financial leadership.
In an exclusive interview with Cointelegraph during the 2024 Bitcoin Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, RFK Jr. elaborated on his experiences with Bitcoin and its potential role in the nation’s monetary system.
Having left the Democratic Party in October 2023 to run as an independent, RFK Jr. reflected on his awareness of Bitcoin’s “transactional freedom” during the trucker strike in Canada.
He described the strike as “a very peaceful protest” where individuals were “exercising freedoms that we take for granted in this country, [like] freedom of assembly, freedom to petition their government.”
He noted that the Canadian government “portrayed it publicly as kind of a terrorist event,” and employed technologies like facial recognition to identify participants and freeze their bank accounts.
“I realized at that time that transactional freedom was as important as freedom of expression that is protected by the First Amendment,” RFK Jr. said.
Over two years later, he observes that U.S. policymakers are acknowledging the presence of 60 million Bitcoin users in the country, prompting a shift in their approach to digital asset regulation.
“I think now it’s past the point where it’s inevitable.
“And now, we need to move as a country that’s able to get some control over Bitcoin as part of a reserve,” he stated.
RFK Jr. believes that establishing a strategic Bitcoin reserve is essential for ensuring the future of the dollar as a permanent global reserve currency.
This move, he suggests, would help the United States retain its economic dominance in an increasingly digital world.
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The United States’ rising national debt, now exceeding $35 trillion, is raising alarms about the economy’s health.
Analysts suggest that this growing debt could drive greater adoption of Bitcoin as a safe-haven asset.
Matt Bell, CEO of Turbofish, highlighted the potential for Bitcoin in the face of fiat currency devaluation: “The recent news of the US national debt reaching the record high of $35 trillion highlights growing concerns around the sustainability of traditional fiat currencies.
This situation stresses the importance of Bitcoin as ‘hard money’ — a decentralized and deflationary asset that offers a hedge against currency devaluation.”
Investors often turn to safe-haven assets like Bitcoin and gold during times of fiat currency instability to safeguard their purchasing power. Historical trends show Bitcoin’s value rising during periods of financial distress.
According to Bitfinex analysts, the burgeoning US debt could drive Bitcoin prices to new heights as government bonds lose appeal.
They stated, “The US national debt of $35 trillion highlights the importance of Bitcoin as ‘hard money’ and potentially acts as a catalyst for the next upward cycle in Bitcoin […] This may drive investors to seek alternative stores of value like Bitcoin, which is often perceived as a hedge against economic inefficiencies.”
The analysts also pointed out that a significant portion of the current US national debt is linked to inflation and the ease of printing money.
They noted, “Bitcoin can rightly be called one of the only true hard currencies because it’s protected against inflation to a large degree, has a limited supply, is durable due to its digital nature and is increasingly available.”
Crypto analyst Rekt Capital predicted a possible breakout in Bitcoin’s price in September, saying, “Bitcoin is still on track for a September breakout.
History suggests that a breakout from the ReAccumulation Range mere ~100 days after the Halving was always going to be unlikely.”
As of July 31, Bitcoin’s price had risen over 8.3% in the past month, trading just above $66,000, according to Bitstamp data. Despite this increase, Bitcoin remains 10.5% below its all-time high of $73,750.
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DraftKings has abruptly ceased its nonfungible token (NFT) operations, including the Reignmakers game and its NFT Marketplace, following recent legal challenges.
This decision comes just four weeks after a federal court judge refused to dismiss a class action lawsuit accusing DraftKings of issuing unregistered securities through its NFTs.
In an email to users, DraftKings stated, “After careful consideration, DraftKings has decided to discontinue Reignmakers and our NFT Marketplace, effective immediately, due to recent legal developments.
This decision was not made lightly, and we believe it is the right course of action.” Despite the shutdown, collectors from the Reignmakers fantasy sports game will still be able to access and transfer their digital assets.
DraftKings launched its NFT marketplace on the Ethereum layer 2 Polygon network during the “NFT summer” of 2021, inspired partly by the success of NBA Top Shot NFTs.
In February 2023, one of DraftKings’ founders, Matt Kalish, highlighted the high demand for their first NFT collectibles, which featured Tom Brady and sold out quickly.
However, in March 2023, DraftKings faced a class action lawsuit filed by customer Justin Dufoe, alleging that its NFTs were securities under the Howey Test.
On July 2, the court found Dufoe’s claims plausible, suggesting that DraftKings’ NFTs might be considered investment contracts under the Securities Act and the Exchange Act.
This development mirrors a similar case involving Dapper Labs, the creator of NBA Top Shot NFTs, which settled a lawsuit by agreeing to pay $4 million.
The decision by DraftKings coincides with growing scrutiny over NFTs.
Recently, two artists sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, seeking clarity on whether NFTs are subject to the SEC’s jurisdiction, including whether they must register their NFT art and disclose risks to buyers.
In addition, the NFT market is experiencing a downturn, with July set to be the lowest monthly sales volume since November 2023, totaling $407.8 million, a significant drop from March’s record of $1.6 billion.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
Seizure of Russian assets across the globe is picking up steam. According to Bloomberg, at the request of G7 state leaders, a group of legal experts greenlit the arrest of $300 billion, assets of Russia’s central bank, as such actions are permitted by the international law with regard to the scale of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The U.S. Department of Justice said they intend to seize the assets of the Russian oligarchs worth $700 million.
The West’s closing in on the Russian tycoons, the majority of whom are actively involved in financing the Russia’s barbaric war, one way or another. Hence, the oligarchs seek save havens for their money. Many try to make their stash go unnoticed in the UK and its jurisdictions.
Our investigation deals with German Kaplun, the former owner of the Russian propaganda media RBC, who’s now trying to create an image of a law-abiding British investor; Kaplun is looking to whitewash his money in the UK through TMT Investments, and in Ukraine – through the very same enterprise and his cousin Yosyp Pintus, the owner of RBC-Ukraine. However, the money Kaplun and Pintus are trying to launder are soaked in blood, since they came from the Russian government, the Ministry of the Interior in particular, with licenses for some of Kaplun’s companies issued by the FSB [Federal Security Service]. Let’s start from the top, shall we?
So, German Kaplun is known in the UK as the owner of TMT Investments. Company shares are traded at the London Stock Exchange. Company’s a typical close-end venture capitalist that mostly operates with its own money, bringing in the external investments in some high-risk operations. As you can tell, the enterprise does not shy away from outright manipulation of securities.
From Russia with frauded investors
For instance, a case that pops up in mind is a scandal with TMT Industries sale and purchase of shares of Cypriot Appsindep (developer of online games for social network platforms) among the Kaplun-affiliated companies. As a result of such manipulations, TMT investors lost their money, and turned to private investigators to establish facts of violations in the management of investors’ funds. According to the available at the time intel, collected by the detectives (Appsindep file), established are the facts of deliberate purchase of a “dummy” (Lightvision Interactive Ltd with no physical assets, founded in Hong Kong in 2010 by Kaplun’s business partner), failure to disclose affiliations in share transactions, manipulations of financial statements – a blatant violation of the LSE listing rules and British financial legislation.
Some of the law-breaking acts were committed by Kaplun’s cousin, Yosyp Plintus, and his British Virgin Islands company PARADY BUSINESS GROUP, namely the purchase of Lightvision Interactive shares from TMT in December 2013 (Lightvision Parady file). It’s hard to say when PARADY BUSINESS sold off Lightvision Interactive shares, the Hong Kong company was liquidated in 2017.
TMT Investments was founded in the fall of 2010, in Jersey (United Kingdom), by Kaplun and his RBC business partners. The information of the shareholders is public. Kaplun indirectly own 24% of company shares, and is the major shareholder. Most of the managerial staff are former Russian Federation citizens, RBC employees under Kaplun’s command. TMT managers and shareholders invested in an extensive network of offshore companies in various jurisdictions for the following facilitation of TMT operations with securities. The 2020 entry in the Jersey registry shows that TMT shareholders list has over 30 names, with brokerage companies, Belize and BVI-based trusts, Russian nationals (TMT 2020 file, closing pages). All TMT managers – former citizens of the Russian Federation – are now holders of UK passports.
This fact alone is a threat to the national security of the United Kingdom should you know the origins of money that Kaplun and TMT Investments operate. This money comes straight from the Russian government, namely the punitive state bodies. This money was made under supervision and with blessing of the FSB.
“British” investor with money off Gazprom, Rostec, and Russia’s law enforcers
Starting in the early-2000s, the Russian holding company RBC ran a separate IT business unit under the RBC SOFT brand. In 2007, RBC shareholders voted in favour of separating RBC’s IT business into a standalone holding company ARMADA.
In that same 2007, ARMADA shares were listed on the Moscow’s RTS and MICEX exchanges; for the $20 million proceeds from the sale of some company shares, was bought a string of other Russian IT-enterprises that developed and integrated software solutions in B2B sector (logistics, banking, trade, government structures).
Group of companies ARMADA had three business lines: Armada Soft (software development), Armada Center (software integration and hardware solutions), and Armada Online (cloud-based business services).
According to Russia’s Federal Treasury, between 2011 and 2017, ARMADA won 79 bids for the government agencies and companies, worth $80 million in total. Among the major clients of ARMADA were Moscow’s city hall, Ministry of the Interior, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation, Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Federal Treasury of Russia. Also, Gazprom, VEB, Sberbank, and “Russian Helicopters” that is part of Rostec military concern.
In 2013, ARMADA was granted a license issued by the Second Service of the FSB that permits the development of secure systems and encryption tools.
“Armada” was co-owned by Kaplun and some other Russian oligarch, Mikhail Fridman (Alfa Group). In the summer of 2014, ARMADA’s two central shareholders at the time, Kaplun and Fridman, had a fallout on the grounds of mutual claims to gain de facto control over the company. Kaplun came out victorious, and was in charge of ARMADA.
As reported by ARMADA Joint Stock Company, Kaplun still sits on the company’s Board of Directors and, despite the recorded claims of having no ARMADA share capital, is in fact in indirect possession of ARMADA shares via the offshore MENOSTAR HOLDINGS LIMITED (Cyprus) and ARSENAL ADVISOR LTD. (BVI).
Therefore, judging by the actions of German Kaplan and his cousin Yosyp Pintus, these two are clearly engaged in money laundering; it’s not just some Russian money, oh no, it’s the money from the Russian state agencies, some of which are either state secret services, or are part of Russia’s military complex.
The agent’s bazaar of good Russians in Ukraine
The second country where Kaplun whitewashes his Russian money is, which may come as a surprise, Ukraine. He is helped by his cousin Yosyp Pintus, the owner of one of Ukraine’s largest digital media, information agency RBC-Ukraine. The front for money laundering and, most likely, working for Russian interests is a venture IT-syndicate TOLOKA.
In June 2023, Ukrainian media announced the arrival of an investment community under the TOLOKA brand name. The reports said the co-founders of the project are Igor Shoifot (TMT Investments), Taras Kyrychenko (Nova Poshta), and Oleksandr Kolba (Promodo).
TOLOKA’s official site highlights the support of the entrepreneurial effort in Ukraine, charitable funds, and support of Ukraine in general.
The relevant “Ukrainian” picture was painted in his interview by one of TOLOKA’s declared co-founders, representative of TMT Investments, Igor Shoifot.
However, according to Shoifot’s LinkedIn page, he completed his higher education in Moscow, securing his PhD from the Russian Academy of Sciences.
Moreover, he’s been Kaplun’s business partner since March 2011, basically from the earliest days of TMT Investments.
Russian role in Shoifot’s life and experience was never part of TOLOKA’s discussion. The fact the largest investor of TMT Investments, German Kaplun, is a Russian national, was never brought up as well.
It’s worth pointing out, the most media coverage dedicated to TOLOKA came from the outlet ProIT, founded in the summer 2023 (inside the same timeframe as TOLOKA) by the former editor-in-chief of RBC-Ukraine Anton Podlutskyi, and former writer on economics, PR-expert Olesia Ostafiieva.
TOLOKA news were also posted on RBC-Ukraine.
Russians in control of one of Ukraine’s largest media
RBC-Ukraine is currently in Ukraine’s top-5 digital media outlets. Established in 2006, it’s a regional branch of the Russian media holding company RBC (short for “RosBusinessConsulting”), owned by German Kaplun. Ukrainian subsidiary of RBC is run by Yosyp Plintus, Kaplun’s cousin. The official narrative enforced by RBC-Ukraine, solidified on its Wikipedia page as well, is that Ukrainian agency parted ways with the Russian holding company in 2010, and has been fully under control of Pintus since 2015. RBC-Ukraine is painted as an independent company starting 2014, having nothing to do with the former Russian owners.
However, there’s ample evidence this is untrue. Our investigation found:
1. RBC-Ukraine can be controlled and financed by the Russian parties via anonymous offshore enterprises
2. Yosyp Pintus, owner of RBC-Ukraine, lies about severed ties with Russia. Pintus-controlled companies partake in fraudulent schemes targeting British investors
3. Pintus’ Ukrainian passport is used by Kaplun to legalize his endeavors in the UK and other countries, where Russian money is not welcome.
Let us look closer ay the evidence at hand. So, the de facto ownership of information portal rbc.ua, according to the information on the said site, is carried out by LLC UBT MEDIA. CEO is Yosyp Pintus, deputy CEO is Volodymyr Shultz. Both are listed as co-owners.
The basic structure of Pintus and Schultz’s ownership in all registered Ukrainian companies:
At the same time, Pintus is still the head of RBC-UKRAINE LLC, the “operator” of the rbc.ua website until 2015. The owner of RBC-UKRAINE LLC is MASS MEDIA GROUP LLC (100%). The owner of MASS MEDIA GROUP LLC is THORNLEY INVESTMENTS LTD (BVI, 100%). There is currently no information about the ultimate beneficiary of THORNLEY INVESTMENTS.
RBC-UKRAINE LLC, according to the Report on the listed affiliates, was a unit within the overall structure of the Russian RBC. 
THORNLEY INVESTMENTS LTD (current owner of MASS MEDIA GROUP) is also among the companies affiliated with RBC Holding (RBC THORNLEY LTD file).
It’s worth mentioning that according to public sources, Belize company SOUTHBURY MARKETING INC., beneficiary company of New Business Media, was closed in 2019, yet in Ukrainian registers it is listed as the current owner of New Business Media.
RBC trademark ownership in Ukraine
Rather telling is the fact that, despite the claims of severed ties with the Russian company RBC, Yosyp Pintus went above and beyond to keep the Russian trade mark operational in Ukraine. As an example of such a strenuous effort on behalf of Mr. Pintus is a court case from 2015-2018, which revolved around the ownership rights for the RBC trademark. Plaintiff, MASS MEDIA GROUP, sought to invalidate the agreement on the transfer of rights to use the RBC trademark, alleging the former RBC-Media accountant signed the relevant paperwork in violation of the Law. The third party involved was the BVI-registered THORNLEY INVESTMENTS LTD, owner of MASS MEDIA GROUP. According to the State Register of Property Rights, RBC trademark is owned by RBC-MEDIA LLC. Also, MASS MEDIA GROUP remains the representative of the right to the Russian trademark C-NEWS (www.cnews.com) in Ukraine on behalf of ROSBUSINESSCONSULTING JSC.
RBC-RF and RBC-Ukraine pre-2015
Until 2014, RBC-UKRAINE was in possession of the BVI-registered offshore company NewMediaHosting Inc. It is impossible to produce physical evidence of the previous connection at the moment. By the looks of it, NewMediaHosting Inc. has been liquidated.
Until 2012 at least, MASS MEDIA GROUP was owned by the Cypriot RBC INVESTMENTS (CYPRUS) LIMITED and GAROUSENTO HOLDINGS LIMITED. German Kaplun was in ownership of the Cypriot legal entity. Kaplun was managing the bank accounts of RBC INVESTMENTS (CYPRUS) LIMITED in the Russian Federation (RBC INVESTMENTS HISTORY file). Cyprus-based company was closed in 2015.
Until 2012, Pintus and Ukrainian legal entities were listed in the Russian registers as a structural part of the Russian RBC.
Pintus’ offshore companies working for Kaplun
The basic structure of Pintus’s main connections in all known offshore companies:
As for Pintus’ first parent company from the BVI, Aquarius Market, it is known from the archival sources on the internet media that the company was used by Kaplun to conduct RBC-Holding securities deals disguised as a third-party entity; the company was, in effect, under complete control of Kaplun through Pintus as a front. Russian media mention Trafford Inc from Belize (owned by Pintus) was used by Kaplun as a shareholder of RBC stakes. TRAFFORD INC. was closed in 2019.
Another BVI parent offshore company of Pintus, PARADY BUSINESS GROUP (has a mutual registrant with THORNLEY INVESTMENTS), was employed by Kaplun to facilitate his fraudulent manipulations with shares of another BVI legal entity, Berryman Capital Group. The deal on Kaplun’s purchase of Berryman Capital Group, a developer of online games for social networks, was public. The relevant news on the investment in Berryman is available in the TMT’s official announcement on the London Stock Exchange from 2012 (LondonStock Berryman file). Berryman Capital Group is also mentioned on the TMT Investments website as an implemented investment project.
Between 2015 and 2017, Pintus’ PARADY BUSINESS GROUP was the ultimate owner of 60% shares of Berryman Capital Group (through 2 offshore companies from the British Virgin Islands and Belize). Running the two companies were Kaplun’s proxies – Aleksandr Pak, TMT Investments manager and former analyst at RBC, and Larisa Koryakina, wife of Kaplun’s business partner, co-founder (along with Kaplun) of a production cooperative in Russia (Orgtechnika file).
It is presently impossible to verify the chain of ownership of PARADY BUSINESS GROUP – Berryman Capital Group, as at least one of the companies in the Belizean “chain”, ABA UNIT CORP. was liquidated in 2019. In addition, all three Belizean companies mentioned earlier and linked to Pintus (ABA UNIT CORP., TRAFFORD INC. and SOUTHBURY MARKETING INC.) were terminated in the same period – April 2019, which implicitly suggests a strong connection between all these Belizean companies used by Kaplun and Pintus for various schemes.
Conclusions that might interest the law enforcers of the UK and Ukraine
So,
- German Kaplun owns and runs a group of IT companies ARMADA in Russia, which, supervised by the FSB, develop software for government bodies in the Russian Federation, namely the Ministry of the Interior, Gazprom, military concern Rostec, Moscow city officials etc.
- Pintus, as the offshore companies’ owner and a citizen of Ukraine, is a valuable “asset” to Kaplun and TMT, in particular, in overcoming the UK restrictions on assets transactions of companies affiliated with or owned by Russian citizens or dual citizens of Russia and the UK. Pintus’s offshore entities (AQUARIUS MARKET and PARADY BUSINESS) were used in Kaplun’s schemes in RBC and TMT.
- Kaplun’s company TMT Investments co-founded TOLOKA, a project designed to find promising IT startups in Ukraine. The project is promoted by the former RBC-Ukraine media managers, and news about TOLOKA are also duplicated on Pintus’ RBC-Ukraine, which is definitely tied to Kaplun through long-standing, close family and business ties (see conclusions to Part 1). The combination of facts suggests that TOLOKA may be utilized by Kaplun to find and use Ukrainian IT startups for the benefit of, among others, Russian government agencies, for whom Kaplun’s other Russian IT company, ARMADA, has been working for a number of years.
- Russian national Kaplun, who has connections to the Russian government and intelligence services, keeps influencing one of Ukraine’s largest media outlets, RBC-Ukraine. During the restructuring of the Russian RBC in 2013-14, the actual owner of RBC-Ukraine was Kaplun through the Cyprus-based RBC INVESTMENT. In 2014, the actual owner of RBC-Ukraine (MASS MEDIA GROUP) became an offshore company from BVI, THORNLEY INVESTMENTS. Accordingly, there was either a sale and purchase agreement, or Kaplun donated the company to Pintus, or Kaplun remains the ultimate shareholder of RBC-Ukraine (through THORNLEY INVESTMENTS). THORNLEY INVESTMENTS is listed as an affiliate of RBC-RF, so there is a valid link between RBC-Ukraine and RBC-RF (through MASS MEDIA GROUP and THORNLEY INVESTMENTS).
Can it be a sheer coincidence the Russian citizen, whose backstory includes work experience for the Russian government in a highly sensitive field, controlled by the Federal Security Service, is now trying to go legit in the countries opposing Russia – UK and Ukraine? Is it indeed a coincidence or a secret mission? The front of an “entrepreneur” or an “investor” has been among Russian secret services’ favourite covers for a while now. To recap, the same alias was used by Andrey Lugovoy, who poisoned Oleksandr Lytvynenko with polonium, and Petrov and Boshyrov, who tried to poison Serhii Skrypal – and accidentally killed an innocent British lady. We’re hoping the law enforcement agencies of the UK and Ukraine can answer these weighing questions.
Polymarket, a prominent crypto betting platform, has exceeded $1 billion in trading volume, with a notable surge in activity over the past month.
According to Dune Analytics, Polymarket saw $343 million in betting volume by July 30, up from $111 million in June and $63 million in May.
The primary driver behind this spike in activity has been intense speculation surrounding the upcoming United States presidential election.
As of now, over $429 million has been wagered on the outcome of the election set for November 4.
Former President Donald Trump maintains a strong lead with 60% odds, while Vice President Kamala Harris has seen her odds improve significantly, moving from a 1% chance to 38% following President Biden’s unexpected withdrawal from the race.
Polymarket, while mainly used for betting on political outcomes, also offers markets on various topics, including cryptocurrency, sports, business events, and recently, the 2024 Olympic Games.
READ MORE: Bitcoin Stabilizes Ahead of Critical Weekly Close Amid Presidential Candidates’ Crypto Plans
On May 14, Polymarket secured $70 million in a Series B funding round led by Peter Thiel’s Founder Fund, with participation from Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin.
This funding round has bolstered the platform’s growth and expansion.
In an effort to streamline user access, especially for those outside the cryptocurrency community, Polymarket partnered with payments platform MoonPay on July 24.
This partnership allows users to make deposits using debit and credit cards, simplifying the onboarding process.
Further capitalizing on the growing interest in U.S. political betting markets, Polymarket enlisted election analyst and statistician Nate Silver as an adviser on July 16.
Despite its focus on U.S. events, Polymarket is not available to American users.
The platform continues to thrive as a leading destination for speculative betting, appealing to a global audience interested in a wide range of prediction markets.
To submit a crypto press release (PR), send an email to sales@cryptointelligence.co.uk.
Real-world asset tokenization is taking the world by storm. A few years ago, trading rights to real assets on blockchain was nothing more than an amusing idea. Today, the largest investment funds in the world are fighting tooth and nail over the leadership in asset tokenization. This topic is enormous, so today, we will focus on one specific aspect – using RWA tokens to get financing and the necessary infrastructure to facilitate it.
What is RWA tokenization?
Real-world asset tokenization is the representing property rights to various assets, such as real estate, stocks, commodities and so on, in the form of digital blockchain-based tokens.
Source: Outlier Ventures
Tokenization reduces the entry threshold for purchasing assets, allows for faster and more efficient transactions, since no intermediaries or paperwork are required and makes the entire process much more transparent. At the same time, tokens grant their holders all the rights coming with the underlying assets, such as dividends or the ability to use these tokens as collateral for loans.
RWA tokenization market state and prospects
According to RWA.xyz data, tokenised RWA’s total value locked (TVL), excluding stablecoins, is currently about $13.8 billion. Ethereum blockchain is the leading chain with the highest TVL, with Stellar, Mantle, Base, Arbitrum, Tron, BSC, Solana and other chains taking up the rest.
The total yearly RWA-tokens trading volume is already about $1 trillion. By 2030, the tokenized market will grow to between $10 trillion (21.co forecast) and $16 trillion (Transak). Some researchers, like Outlier Ventures, consider these predictions to be an underestimation. In other words, the growth potential of the tokenized market is immense, as the CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, acknowledged.
RWA-tokenisation market size forecast from 2023 to 2030. Source – Statista
At the moment, the main applications of RWA tokenization are:
- Government treasury bonds. The volume of US tokenized bonds alone is $2 billion, with an average yield to maturity of 4.95%.
- Private asset-backed credit – $8.5 billion with an average APR of 9.45%
- Tokenized commodities with a market cap of $873 million
However, the market structure is expected to change in the coming years, with real estate, public and private debt, and equity becoming the dominant positions.
RWA-tokens as collateral
In traditional capital markets, it is a standard practice for investors to pledge asset-backed securities or bonds for extra financing. Holders of RWA tokens may use them as collateral in a similar manner.
Borrowed funds can be used to increase existing RWA positions or to gain exposure to other investment opportunities. For example, if the investor anticipates a bullish trend in the crypto market, they can pledge RWA tokens as collateral, borrow stablecoins, and execute any DeFi strategy or just buy crypto.
There are some key advantages over traditional capital markets:
- Additional financing can be obtained very quickly
- There is no need for paperwork
- Financing can be obtained globally with ease
Unfortunately, holders of RWA tokens do not have access to flexible, liquid borrowing / lending solutions.
RWA tokenization challenges and possible solutions
Some risks associated with RWA tokenization, such as reliable physical asset custody and the legal enforcement of smart contracts in the real world, are more organizational than technological. Therefore, we leave these topics outside the scope of today’s article and will discuss them later. However, other issues can be effectively addressed through technology.
Currently, there are numerous platforms and protocols that facilitate the initial sale of tokenized assets to investors, including Ondo, Securitize, Goldfinch, Maple, Credix, Midas, Arca Labs, and others. Despite this, secondary market solutions are not yet well-developed enough to meet the growing market’s needs. Consequently, a significant amount of value remains “stuck” on-chain, accessible only to investors operating on specific blockchains.
Another significant challenge the market faces is fragmentation. The diverse array of tokenization protocols lacks interconnectivity, as they are deployed on different blockchains without effective communication and liquidity exchange mechanisms.
A potential solution to these market issues is the creation of a cross-chain lending protocol, where tokenized Real-World Assets (RWAs) serve as foundational collateral. Modern cross-chain messaging technologies can eliminate liquidity movement barriers between networks, enabling more fluid asset exchange and lending opportunities.
A Glimpse into the Future of Tokenized Assets: Asterizm’s Cross-Chain Lending Protocol Liqvid
Today, Asterizm, a web3 venture company backed by TechStars, Blockchain Founders Fund, Optic Capital, v3ntures, and other VCs specializing in blockchain interoperability and already facilitating cross-chain communication across 20 blockchains with its messaging protocol, published the first version of the white paper for the Liqvid protocol — a cross-chain lending protocol for RWAs. Previously, the Asterizm team published on X that the Liqvid protocol is in development. Moreover, a newly registered domain, liqvid.xyz, features a landing page with general information about the upcoming product and the white paper.
In a personal conversation with the project’s founding team members Denis Polulyakhov and Konstantin Gamalev, we learned that work on the protocol is in full swing. They also confirmed significant interest and support for the Liqvid protocol from RWA market players (issuers), venture investors, and L1 networks focused on real-world asset tokenization. While they didn’t provide a specific launch date, the team aims to release the first version of the protocol by the end of 2024.
Clearly, Asterizm’s cross-chain technology has the potential to transform the entire market and accelerate its development. The Asterizm and Liqvid protocol, as an application layer on top of it, enables the creation of a Layer-0 protocol facilitating using on-chain RWA-backed tokens as collateral to borrow stablecoins. This will replace the current landscape of numerous isolated platforms and protocols that “can’t talk to each other” with a unified ecosystem for tokenized assets. Holders of RWA tokens will gain greater access to additional financing, and will no longer be restricted by the liquidity available within their specific blockchain network. This will not only foster the growth of the RWA token market but also accelerate the growth of underlying assets and economic development as a whole.
Senator Cynthia Lummis has introduced a bill proposing the establishment of a “strategic Bitcoin reserve” by the U.S. government, which would involve purchasing 5% of the world’s Bitcoin supply to be held for at least 20 years.
“It can be used for one purpose, to reduce our debt,” Lummis stated during her keynote speech at the Bitcoin 2024 conference on July 27 in Nashville, Tennessee.
The plan, if enacted, would unfold over five years, with the government acquiring approximately one million Bitcoin, representing 5% of the total supply of 21 million Bitcoin.
At the time of publication, Bitcoin was valued at $68,105, meaning the cost of purchasing one million Bitcoin would be around $68.1 billion, based on CoinMarketCap data.
“This Bitcoin Reserve that we are going to create will start with the 210,000 Bitcoin that President Trump just mentioned and pull it into a reserve, stored in geographically diverse vaults, and that’s only the beginning,” Lummis explained.
She emphasized a shift in the nature of assets held by the government, saying, “We have the money now, but we will no longer be holding it in US dollars and assets that are designed to debase at least 2% per year, we’ll be holding it in an asset that will grow in value.”
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Lummis, a prominent advocate in the crypto space, received enthusiastic support from the conference attendees, concluding her speech with, “This is the solution, this is the answer, this is our Louisiana purchase moment. Thank you, Bitcoin!”
Her proposal came on the heels of a keynote address by former President Donald Trump, who declared his intention to position the U.S. as the “crypto capital of the world” if re-elected in November.
Lummis’s speech also followed her recent critique of President Joe Biden’s administration’s proposed 30% excise tax on the energy used by Bitcoin miners.
On July 23, she released a report titled “Powering Down Progress: Why A Bitcoin Mining Tax Hurts America,” which outlined the advantages of Bitcoin mining infrastructure for the U.S. energy grid.
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