BitMEX’s operator has awarded a $100,000 grant to a Bitcoin Core developer to support his work on the flagship cryptocurrency for the next 12 months.

Maker has raised $5.3 million via MKR token auctions meant to cover undercapitalized debt created during the March 12 – 13 market crash that saw ether’s price plummet. While it raised enough to offset the debt, DAI’s peg to the U.S. dollar hasn’t been restored.

Russia’s legislative ban on cryptocurrency payments has been delayed because of the COVID-19 outbreak. The adoption of legislation outlining the ban has been delayed numerous times so far.

Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• BitMEX’s Operator Awards $100,000 to Bitcoin Core Maintainer Michael Ford
• Maker Raises $5.3 Million From Auctions to Cover Undercapitalized debt
• Russia’s Legislative Ban on Crypto Payments Delayed Because of Coronavirus

At the time of writing, bitcoin (BTC) is trading at $6,331.39 (-2.75%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $2.16. As for ether (ETH), it is trading at $131.91 (-1.08%) with a daily Top Tier volume of $341.86 million. The MVIS CryptoCompare Digital Assets 10 Index is currently tracking at 2,181.69 (-1.33%).

BitMEX’s Operator Awards $100,000 to Bitcoin Core Maintainer Michael Ford

The operator of popular cryptocurrency derivatives exchange BitMEX, HDR Global Trading Limited, has awarded $100,000 to Bitcoin Core maintainer Michael Ford.

Ford first started contributing to the development of Bitcoin in 2012, and became a Bitcoin Core maintainer in June 2019. In May 2018 HDR had awarded Ford a 12-month $60,000 grant, and the new grant is meant to replace the old arrangement and support Ford’s work over the next 12 months.

The firm’s announcement on the grant reads:

"This reflects HDR’s continued support for Bitcoin development. We would like to emphasise that our commitment to open source Bitcoin development is for the long term and we look many years ahead when making these funding decisions."

HDR has also donated to the MIT Digital Currency Initiative last year to assist developers working there, including Bitcoin Core developers Wladimir van der Laan and Cory Fields.

Maker Raises $5.3 Million From Auctions to Cover Undercapitalized Debt

Maker has raised a total of $5.3 million in 106 MKR token auctions raising funds to cover roughly $4.5 million of undercapitalized debt. The auctions last between March 19 and March 28,  and saw Maker sold about 20,980 MKR at an average price of $296.35. Thirty-six unique addresses participated in the auctions.

The funds raised allowed MakerDAO to completely offset the protocol’s debt created during the March 12- 13 market crash that ended up seeing the system fail to keep up with falling price amid an Ethereum network congestion.

Paradigm- a cryptocurrency-based investment firm and an existing MKR token holder, announced on social media it won 72 out of 106 auctions, representing 68% of the total. Digging through on-chain data, The Block managed to find that the Maker foundation won the first 33 rounds of the auction.

Notably, the last auction received a bid of 3,090 DAI per MKR, an anomaly taking into account the average price the tokens were being sold for. While Maker managed to raise funds to offset the debt, DAI’s peg to the value of the U.S. dollar hasn’t yet been restored, as the stablecoin has been trading between $1.01 and $1.06.

Russia’s Legislative Ban on Crypto Payments Delayed Because of Coronavirus

Russian government officials have revealed the unexpected COVID-19 outbreak forced the country to delay the adoption of its legislation “On Digital Financial Assets,” which will define cryptocurrency usage in the country and ban cryptoassets as a payment method.

Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Duma committee on financial markets, revealed in a report Russia’s law regarding digital asset usage has been under discussion since early 2018 and has now been completed, but its adoption is being delayed numerous times over internal disputes.

According to Aksakov the coronavirus outbreak could force the legislation’s adoption to be delayed “until the end of spring.” Despite the delay, the government official commented on the proposed legislation, clarifying it will prohibit crypto use as a payment method:

“We came to the conclusion that it is necessary to define these tools but to prohibit their use as a means of payment. The law will define digital financial assets, the procedure for their issue, and circulation. It will also include the issue and circulation of digital assets secured by goods.”

The document also outlines strict rules to fight money laundering and other illegal activities using cryptoassets. It notably doesn’t mention cryptocurrency mining, which according to Aksakov is businesses that produces value and should be taxed.

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