Крипторынок России на коне: новые рекорды и колебания биткоина Translation: Russian Crypto Market Thrives: New Records and Bitcoin Fluctuations

Digital gold prices dipped below $104,000, as the Russian crypto market emerged as a leader in Europe by trading volumes, a controversial Bitcoin Core update was released, and other noteworthy events transpired during the past week.

At the beginning of the week, the price of the leading cryptocurrency continued its recovery following the market crash on October 11. The value stabilized above $115,000 but soon began a gradual decline.

The correction intensified sharply on October 17, Friday, amid widespread liquidations—primarily of long positions. The price of digital gold fell below $104,000.

As is customary, the decline in the flagship cryptocurrency dragged the entire market down, with major altcoins experiencing even steeper losses.

As a result of a rebound, Bitcoin’s price recovered to approximately $108,500. Despite the heightened volatility throughout the week, digital gold saw a 2.9% decrease in value.

Most other coins in the top 10 by market capitalization ended the period in the «green zone.» Solana’s price increased by 5.3%, while Ethereum rose by 4.2%.

The exception was the BNB token, which lost 9.6% in value. Pressures on the asset’s price may have stemmed from negative media coverage surrounding Binance. The exchange was accused by the community of «selling listings» to crypto projects, and media outlets reported on an ongoing investigation by French regulators into the platform.

The total market capitalization shrank from $3.9 trillion to $3.8 trillion, with Bitcoin’s dominance slightly declining to 57%.

The crypto fear and greed index failed to exit the negative zone, registering a score of 29, indicating fear in the market.

From July 2024 to June 2025, the volume of the Russian crypto market reached $376 billion, placing Russia at the top among European countries, as noted in a report by Chainalysis.

Traditionally, the UK led the list but has now fallen to second place with a volume of $273.2 billion. The top five also includes Germany ($219.4 billion), Ukraine ($206.3 billion), and France ($180.1 billion).

Experts also noted a record increase in the volume of crypto transactions originating from Russia, reaching $379.3 billion.

Among the main driving forces was the rise in large institutional transfers. The number of transactions exceeding $10 million surged by 86%, nearly doubling the average for Europe.

The Bitcoin Core team released version v30 of the client, which received a mixed reaction from the community.

All prior versions of the software are now considered «completed» and will no longer receive updates.

Bitcoin Core v30 includes bug fixes, adjustments to base fee rates, performance improvements, and enhanced mining interactions.

However, a significant change was the increase in the data transfer limit in the OP_RETURN outputs from 80 to 100,000 bytes, which will substantially elevate the volume of non-financial transactions on the network. Users can still set their own limits using the -datacarriersize function.

In April, a proposal to remove the limit was introduced by Bitcoin developer Peter Todd.

This initiative caused a divide in the community. Opponents argue that it encourages the use of the network for non-financial transactions, which clutter and overload the blockchain. They also raised concerns about the potential dissemination of illegal content, for which node operators may face legal repercussions.

Counterarguments highlight that users will continue to find alternative methods to publish arbitrary data, and miners have both the capacity and incentives to include such transactions in blocks.

Since the announcement by the Bitcoin Core team in June regarding the removal of the limit in the v30 release, the client’s market share has dropped from 88% to 78%. The alternative solution, Bitcoin Knots, which offers tighter filters, has benefited, with operators of over 21% of nodes transitioning to this software.

Tether, the company behind the most popular stablecoin USDT, has introduced an open-source wallet development kit (WDK).

According to the company’s website, the toolkit is «designed for people, machines, and AI agents.» Multi-chain wallets can be integrated into any device—ranging from compact embedded systems to mobile, desktop, and server platforms.

Developers believe that non-custodial wallets are the foundation of a free and open financial system, creating a resilient infrastructure resistant to intervention or control by centralized entities.

Thanks to the open-source nature of WDK, anyone can create their own independent, secure permissionless solutions.

On October 14, a test version of a major Ethereum upgrade called Fusaka was successfully deployed on the Sepolia network.

Reports indicate that the activation process took 20 minutes.

The next phase will involve testing the upgrade in Hoodi, scheduled for October 28. On December 3, the hard fork will be launched in the mainnet of the second-largest cryptocurrency by market cap.

The primary goal of Fusaka is to enhance Ethereum’s scalability and efficiency, with a key improvement being the implementation of the PeerDAS protocol (EIP-7594), expected to double the network’s throughput.

In a new installment of the «Silicon Tanks» series, the revolutionary impact of hacker Richard Stallman on the free software movement through the creation of copyleft licenses was recalled. Recently, Vitalik Buterin, co-founder of Ethereum, expressed support for this concept.

In a series of articles on the Global South, the digital paradox facing Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation with a youthful demographic, was analyzed.

The traditional digest compiled the week’s key events in the realm of cybersecurity.