Alan W. Dowd is a Senior Fellow with the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes on the full range of topics relating to national defense, foreign policy and international security. Dowd’s commentaries and essays have appeared in Policy Review, Parameters, Military Officer, The American Legion Magazine, The Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations, The Claremont Review of Books, World Politics Review, The Wall Street Journal Europe, The Jerusalem Post, The Financial Times Deutschland, The Washington Times, The Baltimore Sun, The Washington Examiner, The Detroit News, The Sacramento Bee, The Vancouver Sun, The National Post, The Landing Zone, Current, The World & I, The American Enterprise, Fraser Forum, American Outlook, The American and the online editions of Weekly Standard, National Review and American Interest. Beyond his work in opinion journalism, Dowd has served as an adjunct professor and university lecturer; congressional aide; and administrator, researcher and writer at leading think tanks, including the Hudson Institute, Sagamore Institute and Fraser Institute. An award-winning writer, Dowd has been interviewed by Fox News Channel, Cox News Service, The Washington Times, The National Post, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and numerous radio programs across North America. In addition, his work has been quoted by and/or reprinted in The Guardian, CBS News, BBC News and the Council on Foreign Relations. Dowd holds degrees from Butler University and Indiana University. Follow him at twitter.com/alanwdowd.

ASCF News

Scott Tilley is a Senior Fellow at the American Security Council Foundation, where he writes the “Technical Power” column, focusing on the societal and national security implications of advanced technology in cybersecurity, space, and foreign relations.

He is an emeritus professor at the Florida Institute of Technology. Previously, he was with the University of California, Riverside, Carnegie Mellon University’s Software Engineering Institute, and IBM. His research and teaching were in the areas of computer science, software & systems engineering, educational technology, the design of communication, and business information systems.

He is president and founder of the Center for Technology & Society, president and co-founder of Big Data Florida, past president of INCOSE Space Coast, and a Space Coast Writers’ Guild Fellow.

He has authored over 150 academic papers and has published 28 books (technical and non-technical), most recently Systems Analysis & Design (Cengage, 2020), SPACE (Anthology Alliance, 2019), and Technical Justice (CTS Press, 2019). He wrote the “Technology Today” column for FLORIDA TODAY from 2010 to 2018.

He is a popular public speaker, having delivered numerous keynote presentations and “Tech Talks” for a general audience. Recent examples include the role of big data in the space program, a four-part series on machine learning, and a four-part series on fake news.

He holds a Ph.D. in computer science from the University of Victoria (1995).

Contact him at stilley@cts.today.

Exclusive-Russian Cenbank to Seek Ban on Investment in Cryptocurrencies - Sources

Thursday, December 16, 2021

Categories: ASCF News Economic Security

Comments: 0

Source: https://www.usnews.com/news/technology/articles/2021-12-16/russian-cenbank-to-seek-ban-on-investment-in-cryptocurrencies-sources-say

A Russian flag flies outside the Consulate General of the Russian Federation in New York. REUTERS/Andrew KellyREUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Russian central bank wants to ban investments in cryptocurrencies in Russia, seeing risks to financial stability in the rising number of crypto transactions, two financial market sources close to the bank said.

Russia has argued for years against cryptocurrencies, saying they could be used in money laundering or to finance terrorism. It eventually gave them legal status in 2020 but banned their use as a means of payment.

The central bank is now in talks with market players and experts about a possible ban. If approved by lawmakers, it could apply to new purchases of crypto assets but not to those bought in the past, said one of the financial market sources, who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

Another source close to the Bank of Russia said the central bank's current position was a "complete rejection" of all cryptocurrencies.

In a reply to Reuters' request for comment, the central bank said it was preparing an advisory report to voice its stance on the issue. It did not comment on specifics.

RISKS

The annual volume of cryptocurrency transactions carried out by Russians is about $5 billion, the central bank has said.

Central Bank First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudaeva said this month that cryptocurrencies' increasing popularity raised concerns about risks to financial stability.

"The situation in developed market countries more and more resembles the so-called shadow financial system," Yudaeva wrote in an article, adding that use of cryptocurrencies lowered the efficiency of monetary policies.

Pointing to China's experience, she said Russia needed a further adjustment of cryptocurrency regulation.

In September, China intensified its crackdown on cryptocurrencies with a blanket ban on all crypto transactions and mining, hitting bitcoin and other major coins and pressuring crypto and blockchain-related stocks.

Meanwhile, the Bank of Russia is planning to issue its own digital rouble, joining the global trend to develop digital currencies to modernise financial systems, speed up payments and counter a potential threat from other cryptocurrencies.

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Katya Golubkova, William Maclean and Gareth Jones)

Comments

There are no comments yet. Be the first to add a comment by using the form below.