Vancouver staff advise council to withdraw bitcoin-friendly motion; Russia proposes crypto exchange licensing via banks

Vancouver city staff recommended the council withdraw a motion to position the city as "bitcoin-friendly" following a legal review, TheBlockCo reports. Russia's central bank proposed banks and brokers could obtain crypto exchange licenses through a "notification process" based on existing banking licenses, while Ethereum cofounder Vitalik Buterin urged developers to adopt experimental approaches without compromising core protocol security. Kazakhstan's central bank allocated up to $350 million from gold and foreign exchange reserves for cryptocurrency-related assets, and Dubai's Virtual Assets Regulatory Authority issued cease-and-desist orders to four entities marketing themselves as KuCoin, stating the exchange lacks authorization to offer virtual asset services in or from Dubai.