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


Policy

Russia's New Blockchain Elections Remain Centralized

There will be two blockchain voting pilots for Russia's off-year election next month.

(Slutsky Maksim/Shutterstock)

Finance

Barclays' Former Russian Bank Has Issued a Token-Collateralized Loan

Expobank has issued its first loan using WAVES tokens as collateral – the bank are now estimating what future demand could be.

Moscow at night (Shutterstock)

Policy

Belarus Is Back Online, With Lessons About Censorship Resistance

What do you do if your country unplugs the internet? Satellite and mesh networks are possible future solutions, but they have technical and political limitations.

Protestors on the streets in Belarus after the 2020 presidential election. (YouTube)

Policy

Russian Financial Crime Agency Plans AI Tool to Link Crypto Transfers to Users

Russia's anti-money laundering agency Rosfinmonitoring has already built a prototype blockchain analytics tool, according to a report.

Moscow.

Policy

VPN Usage Surges as Belarus Remains Offline

People in Belarus are discovering anti-censorship tools as the country experiences a major internet outage

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko. (Serge Serebro, Vitebsk Popular News/Wikimedia Commons)

Markets

DEX Aggregator 1inch Raises $2.8M From Binance Labs, Galaxy Digital and More

Launched by software engineers from Porsche and NEAR Protocol, the startup has raised $2.8 million in a funding round led by Binance Labs.

Left to right: 1inch co-founder Anton Bukov, co-founder Sergej Kunz and smart contract developer Mikhail Melnik.

Markets

After Tumultuous Election, Belarus Goes Offline

Internet is down in Belarus as people are protesting the results of presidential election

Protestors on the streets in Belarus after the 2020 presidential election. (YouTube)

Tech

Russia's Sberbank Launches Blockchain on Hyperledger, Mulls Stablecoin in 2021

Russia's largest retail bank is launching a Hyperledger-powered blockchain for trade finance initially, and may add a ruble-linked stablecoin next year

Sberbank

Policy

Why Ukraine Is Ripe for Cryptocurrency Adoption

A relatively unstable state – with a technically sophisticated population – creates a fertile ground for crypto adoption.

Monument of Independence in Kyiv (Andreas Wolochow/Shutterstock)

Tech

Russian Voters' Data on Sale After Blockchain Poll to Keep Putin in Power: Report

Russians voted electronically, using blockchain tech, to keep Putin in power. Now, hackers may be selling the personal data of over a million of those voters.

Russian passport (Irina Tarzian/Shutterstock)