Крипторынок России достигает рекордов на фоне волатильности биткоина и споров о Bitcoin Core Translated Headline: Russias Crypto Market Sets Records Amid Bitcoin Volatility and Controversies Over Bitcoin Core

The prices of digital gold dipped below $104,000, the Russian crypto market emerged as a leader in Europe by trading volume, a controversial Bitcoin Core update was released, and other significant events marked the past week.

At the start of the week, the value of the first cryptocurrency began to bounce back following the market crash on October 11. The price stabilized above $115,000 but later experienced a gradual decline.

On October 17, the correction accelerated sharply on Friday, mainly due to widespread liquidations of long positions. The price of digital gold fell below $104,000.

As is often the case, the decline of the flagship cryptocurrency dragged down the entire market, with leading altcoins experiencing even steeper losses.

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

Most of the other top-10 coins by market capitalization ended up in the green. Solana’s price rose by 5.3%, while Ethereum increased by 4.2%.

The exception was the BNB token, which fell by 9.6%. Negative news surrounding Binance may have negatively impacted the asset’s price, as accusations were made against the exchange regarding the sale of listings to crypto projects. Media reports indicated that a French regulator had opened an investigation into the platform.

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

The Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Index remained in the negative zone. With a metric value of 29 points, it indicates fear prevailing 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 nations, as stated in a Chainalysis report.

Traditionally, the UK has ranked first but has now fallen to second with a figure of $273.2 billion. The top five includes Germany ($219.4 billion), Ukraine ($206.3 billion), and France ($180.1 billion).

Experts also noted record growth in crypto transactions originating from Russia, with the figure reaching $379.3 billion.

Key drivers include an increase in the number of large institutional transfers, with transactions above $10 million rising by 86%, nearly double the European average.

The Bitcoin Core team released version v30 of their client, which sparked mixed reactions within the community.

All previous software versions are now considered «complete» and will no longer receive updates.

Bitcoin Core v30 incorporates bug fixes, adjustments to base fee rates, performance enhancements, and improvements in mining interactions.

However, the key change was the increase in the data transfer limit for OP_RETURN outputs from 80 to 100,000 bytes. This change is expected to significantly boost the volume of non-financial transactions on the blockchain. Users still have the option to set manual limits using the -datacarriersize function.

The proposal to remove the limit was introduced in April by Bitcoin developer Peter Todd.

This initiative caused a rift within the community. Opponents argue that it encourages the use of the network for non-financial transactions, which can clutter and overload the blockchain. Another concern is the potential for illegal content distribution, for which node operators could face legal repercussions.

Supporters counter that users will still find alternative ways to publish arbitrary data, and miners have the capability and incentives to include such transactions in blocks.

Since the announcement of the limit removal by the Bitcoin Core team in June, the client’s market share has dropped from 88% to 78%. Competing solution Bitcoin Knots, which offers stricter filters, has gained traction, with over 21% of node operators now using it.

Tether, the issuer of the most popular stablecoin USDT, 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.

The developers believe that non-custodial wallets are the backbone of a free and open financial system, forming a resilient infrastructure that is immune to interference or control from centralized entities.

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

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

Reports indicated that the activation took 20 minutes.

The next phase will involve testing the upgrade in Hoodi, scheduled for October 28. The hard fork is set to be rolled out in the mainnet of the second-largest cryptocurrency on December 3.

The primary goal of Fusaka is to enhance Ethereum’s scalability and efficiency. A key improvement will be the introduction of the PeerDAS protocol (EIP-7594), which is expected to double the network’s throughput.

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

In a series of articles on the Global South, Indonesia’s digital paradox was examined, illustrating the challenges faced by the world’s fourth most populous nation, whose greatest asset is its youthful generation.

In the traditional digest, the week’s main cybersecurity events were summarized.