March 28, 2024

“Bound by blockchain”: an investigative book about the history of the crypto movement in Russia has been published

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“Shackled by blockchain”: an investigative book about the history of the crypto movement in Russia has been published

Book “Crypt.How cypherpunks, programmers and swindlers shackled Russia with the blockchain” by investigative journalist Andrei Zakharov appeared on the public market and became available for those who pre-ordered online.

The plot is built around the theft of hundreds of millionsdollars of assets from the BTC-e/Wex exchange. The creators of the crypto exchange have Russian roots. Exactly on the day the book appeared in the store of the Moscow publishing house "Individual", June 9, the US Department of Justice presented
accusations against Russian Alexey Bilyuchenko are amongother things, “conspired to operate the BTC-e exchange from 2011 to 2017.” By conspiracy we mean the relationship between Bilyuchenko and Alexander Vinnik, who was arrested in the summer of 2017 and then charged with laundering $9 billion through BTC-e. It is with the arrest of Vinnik that “Crypt” begins.

The investigation becomes a reason to tellabout all the notable personalities who formed the Russian crypto community and launched the first notable crypto projects. Among others is the BtcSec forum, which appeared in 2011, which in 2014, together with Satoshi Nakamoto’s Bitcoin.org website, was blocked by Roskomnadzor - and after winning in court and unblocking, it turned into Bits.media.

Andrey Zakharov – four-time laureatejournalistic award "Editorial Board". Worked for Fontanka, RBC, the Proekt publication, and the BBC Russian Service. Author and co-author of investigations about the “troll factory”, about interference in the US presidential elections, about St. Petersburg resident Svetlana Krivonogikh and her and Vladimir Putin’s alleged daughter together. In the fall of 2021, the Russian Ministry of Justice recognized Zakharov as a foreign agent. Then Andrey received
Blockchain Awards for his contribution to cryptojournalism - as the creator of a series of materials about the BTC-e exchange.