Anna Baydakova

Anna writes about blockchain projects and regulation with a special focus on Eastern Europe and Russia. She is especially excited about stories on privacy, cybercrime, sanctions policies and censorship resistance of decentralized technologies.
She graduated from the Saint Petersburg State University and the Higher School of Economics in Russia and got her Master's degree at Columbia Journalism School in New York City.
She joined CoinDesk after years of writing for various Russian media, including the leading political outlet Novaya Gazeta.
Anna owns BTC and an NFT of sentimental value.

Anna Baydakova

Latest from Anna Baydakova


Markets

Inside Iran's Onslaught on Bitcoin Mining

Iran has been clamping down on mining farms, but it also wants to use crypto mining to boost the sanctioned nation's revenue stream.

TEHRAN * IRAN
The flags flying next to the Azadi Tower

Markets

Bitcoin Donations to Navalny Surge After Russian Opposition Leader Is Jailed

Putin's opponent received 3.7 bitcoin in the last week, tripling the amount raised in the first two weeks of 2021.

Protesters demanding the release of Vladimir Putin's critic Alexei Navalny in Moscow, Jan. 23, 2021

Policy

Russian Public Officials Banned From Holding Cryptocurrency

Russian government officials must dispose of any digital asset holdings before April 1.

Moscow

Markets

Russia's Sber Bank Files to Launch Its Own Stablecoin

Russia's largest retail bank has applied to become a licensed digital assets issuer.

Sberbank

Policy

Russian Court Takes Crypto Exchange Binance off Website Blacklist

A court in the Arkhangelsk region ruled last summer Binance should be blocked, but the exchange wasn't notified until months later.

Binance Logo.

Tech

Sci-Hub Leaves Handshake Blockchain After 2 Days, Citing Centralization Concerns

Sci-Hub, a pirate library of academic papers censored by Twitter, PayPal and domain systems, left the distributed domain platform Handshake after two days, unsatisfied by the level of decentralization.

Sci-Hub's landing page

Tech

Pirated Academic Database Sci-Hub Is Now on the ‘Uncensorable Web’

Sci-Hub, a pirate database of academic papers using bitcoin for funding, has joined the distributed domain names network Handshake.

A free and unfettered internet is why Sci-Hub founder Alexandra Elbakyan has registered her website on the distributed domain names network Handshake.

Policy

Kyrgyzstan Has Proposed Its First Regulatory Framework for Crypto

Kyrgyzstan's central bank wants to regulate cryptocurrency – licensing exchanges and barring its use in payments.

Ala Too Square in Bishkek, capital of Kyrgyzstan