Etherium 2.0 Tests.

Etherium 2.0 Tests.

The value of Ethereum cryptocurrency exceeded $1900 after the team of blockchain developers reported on the successful update of the Goerli test network. After the test network will be transferred to the Proof-of-Stake (PoS) model – the upcoming event is called Merge, and with it the classic cryptocurrency mining of this currency will be a thing of the past. The Ethereum 2.0 network will get higher performance, significantly increased energy efficiency – electricity consumption will be reduced by more than 99% and scalability will increase. The main Ethereum blockchain is scheduled to migrate to the new algorithm on September 19, 2022.

UK Recession Risks.

The risk of a UK recession in the next 12 months is now almost 50:50. While official estimates now show that the country is likely to avoid two consecutive quarters of contraction, economists are becoming increasingly pessimistic due to a surge in inflation. Inflation at its highest level for enormous resilience and cost crises are sources of weakness in life. This is above the forecast for Germany, France, Italy and Spain. Analysts believe that this will greatly affect the lives of the population and domestic business, but it will not bring any special consequences for international business. 

Current Currency situation.

What strange times we live in…

$1 is worth more than €1 for the first time since 2002. According to the Forex Capital Markets trading platform, the minimum price of €1 was $0.99 (-0.37%). On July 14, the euro exchange rate updated the anti-record, continuing to fall below parity against the dollar. At the minimum, the value of the European currency fell to $0.9952. The dollar on Thursday evening is growing against other major world currencies, but the pace of growth has slowed down slightly, according to trading data.

Cryptocrush

Cryptocurrency markets have crashed to record lows. On June 13 alone, global market capitalization fell 12% to $977 billion. Crypto lending platform Celsius has stopped withdrawing funds and Binance has suspended operations in bitcoin, crypto investors are complaining about losing millions, which is understandable. For two weeks, all crypto owners have been waiting for the situation to normalize, but, as most major analysts assure, trust in digital currencies has already been undermined, which means that without another high-profile event, nothing will change for the better. El Salvador, the country that recognized bitcoin as the national currency, is likely to have a default. Due to the sharp decline in interest in mining, video cards have become much cheaper, and electricity consumption in countries where mining has been actively engaged has fallen by 15-30%.

Universal connector

Let’s digress a little from the global frightening news, and talk about something pleasant. EU approved a law on the obligatory universal USB-C connector in mobile devices. The law will come into force in the fall of 2024 and will apply to any smart technology. All that remains is the formal approval of the law by the Parliament and the Council of the EU at the end of this year. So far, this is not yet official information, but if it happens, then all smartphones, tablets, netbooks, photo and video cameras and portable gaming devices will fall under it. Including Apple and Nintendo, which are notorious for making money on unique branded cables and accessories for their devices.

Business Networking

In the current situation, the RLA SERVICES team is working hard to strengthen and develop a joint business with entrepreneurs from Ukraine. Today we attended @bigmoney.university business conference in Prague. Many thanks to all the organizers and participants of the event. In particular, thanks to @chernyak_yevgeny for being able to participate in the event in person! Good luck to everyone during this difficult time! Glory to Ukraine!

Current State of Estonia

On February 23, 2022, Estonia adopted an updated version of the law on the prevention of money laundering and terrorist financing. The requirements for authorized capital have been increased: instead of 12,000 euros, the new minimum authorized capital is 100,000 euros for organizations providing “wallet”, exchange and issuance services, and 250,000 euros for organizations engaged in crypto-transfers. The state duty was increased from 3,300 euros to 10,000. Mandatory requirements for annual audits, as well as internal audits, were introduced. The new Law entered into force on March 15, 2022. The new requirements must be applied by market participants by 06/15/2022. Simultaneously with the adoption of new rules, the state began to check and clean up the crypto business, more than 500 licenses of crypto companies that violated the licensing conditions were revoked. Thus, having gradually “tightened the screws”, Estonia is currently losing its attractiveness as a “Crypto Mecca” for medium and small businesses.

Substance

Many types of international business can be conducted remotely, sometimes completely online. As a rule, a registered address is enough to start a business activity, a little less often a local contact person or sales representative is also required. However, when it comes to a business with high turnover or a business that requires a license, regulators and banks require a real presence in the country. Strictly speaking, “substance” means the physical presence of a business in a jurisdiction. RLA Services helps clients with substance in most popular business areas: EU, UK, CIS, Hong Kong and many others.

VPN

Russian government is struggling to block social networks, independent media and other resources that hinder propaganda. Many foreign companies closed the Russians access to their resources. A number of problems emerged:
1 – for many services, some other CIS countries are also tied to the Russian region, which is why access problems have spread to them.
2 – there are still many foreigners in Russia, as well as the citizens, who do not support the government. The restrictions are territorial in nature, so the problems affected them too.
3 – the government of the Russian Federation also blocks its media resources for people from abroad so that they do not have information about the internal situation.

Because of this, our team strongly recommends that everyone use a VPN. Here are our recommendations:

  • Of the paid options, surfshark and NordVPN are the most suitable;
  • from free browser extensions we recommend FreeVPN, Browsec VPN and VPNhub;
  • best app for smartphones is 1. 1. 1. 1 .;
  • TOR browser and Onion Browser are suitable for computers.