Today in crypto, Russia approved a draft crypto bill package that would push trading through licensed intermediaries and cap retail purchases at $3,700 annually, new research from Google found that quantum computers might require far fewer resources than previously thought to break cryptography, and Jack Dorsey’s Square is putting Bitcoin payments on its US POS terminals in a move aimed at making BTC “everyday money.”
Russia moves to narrow crypto trading to regulated intermediaries
Russia’s government has approved a package of draft bills that would channel domestic crypto trading through licensed intermediaries and sharply limit retail access.
The Finance Ministry said Monday that the government had approved a package of draft bills on the legalization of the circulation of digital currencies and digital rights in Russia.
“Under the new regulatory framework, transactions involving digital currency without regulated intermediaries are prohibited,” the ministry said. The package would tighten state oversight of digital assets while preserving limited access for non-qualified investors and broader access for qualified investors.
The framework introduces significant limits for retail investors, allowing purchases of the “most liquid digital currencies” to be defined by the Bank of Russia. Under the rules, retail investors must pass a test and are limited to purchases of up to 300,000 rubles ($3,700) per year through a single intermediary.
The proposal would still allow residents to buy crypto abroad using foreign accounts, provided those transactions are reported to tax authorities, signaling that Moscow is trying to domesticate crypto trading rather than ban it outright.
Quantum computers need far less qubits to crack crypto than thought: Google
New research from Google shows that quantum computers could require far less resources than previously thought to break the cryptography that secures cryptocurrency blockchains.
Google’s new research, released on Monday, estimates a quantum computer could crack the cryptography protecting Bitcoin and Ethereum using fewer than 500,000 physical qubits, based on its current assumptions about hardware capabilities. A qubit is the basic unit of a quantum computer.
The researchers compiled two quantum circuits to test on a superconducting-qubit, cryptographically relevant quantum computer (CRQC), reporting that it was a “20-fold reduction” in the number of qubits required to break the 256-bit elliptic curve discrete logarithm problem (ECDLP-256) widely used in cryptocurrency blockchains.
The research suggests that in a theoretical scenario, a quantum computer could crack a Bitcoin private key in as little as nine minutes, giving it a small window to perform an “on-spend attack” given Bitcoin’s 10-minute block time.
Square rolls out Bitcoin payments at POS for eligible US merchants
Square, the payments platform of Block, has begun rolling out Bitcoin payments at its point-of-sale terminals for eligible US sellers, with the automatic feature going live today as part of a phased rollout over the coming month.
The announcement was shared Monday in a post on X by Miles Suter, Bitcoin product lead at Block, and reposted by CEO and longtime Bitcoiner Jack Dorsey.
The rollout, which could lower barriers to Bitcoin (BTC) payments by removing volatility and custody risk for millions of merchants, was first outlined by Block in May.
According to BitcoinTreasuries.net data, Block ranks as the 14th-largest publicly traded holder of Bitcoin, with 8,883 BTC on its balance sheet at an average cost of $32,939 per coin.
