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JuiceStorm.com supported Adam Todd and the Digitex Futures since before the ICO on January 15th 2018. Support for the Digitex Futures was withdrawn 4th August 2020.

Latest posts by DGTX News (see all)

• Digitex Has Been Two Years in the Making - November 27, 2019
• Digitex Futures Is Ready to Revolutionize Futures Trading - November 26, 2019
• With 4 Days to Go, Check Out the Progress on the Digitex Testnet - November 26, 2019

Russia is a country that you don’t hear a lot about beyond the occasional political feud. Yet, behind the curtain, a lot of people aren’t aware that the Russian startup scene is booming in this country. Besides government support and a growing local startup community, both Moscow and St. Petersburg are home to some of the highest quality talent fostered from excellent local universities. 

The Russian Startup Scene Is Thriving

The local startup community in Moscow is positively thriving, especially in the tech sector. Of course, for non-speakers of Russian, at first, it can be hard to get your foot through the door. Beyond the obvious language barrier, Russian businesses often don’t use the same platforms as other countries to publicize their meetups and events. So, it helps to ask some friendly locals to point you in the right direction.

At Digitex, we’ve been incredibly fortunate to have received so much help and support from the SmartDec team. We’re extremely grateful and proud to be part of such a flourishing scene. There are regular events for new businesses going on here and you simply need to know which sites to look at to find them. These could be social media platforms like vk.com or tech publications VC.ru or Rusbase.

For newcomers to the scene, they can opt to use a co-working space such as WeWork, who set up several office spaces here in 2019, WorkStation, StartHub, and many more. The idea behind these places is to encourage the development of the tech scene and they often hold pitch sessions for entrepreneurs to receive feedback from mentors.

There are also plenty of conferences and events, perhaps the most well-known here is called Startup Village, which is backed and organized by the state-funded Skolkovo Foundation. There is also the Open Innovations Forum, which has attracted the likes of Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh. When it comes to our industry, the Moscow Blockchain conference attracts plenty of visitors every year, and blockchain technology is ever-growing in Russia with its largest bank Sberbank using it to complete payments.

A Growing Pool of Talent

Let’s face it, people don’t come to Russia for its warm weather. But for tech companies, especially in emerging tech sectors like blockchain, a steady flow of highly trained and tech-savvy talent is readily available here. The Russian government has always heavily invested in STEM courses. This has resulted in an abundance of tech talent entering the industry with qualifications from respected educational institutions such as the Moscow State University, the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, the Moscow Technological Institute, and the Saint Petersberg State University, to name a few.

The Russian population is made up of many young, highly tech-savvy individuals with an average age of 38. Russia generates more software engineers than any other country and almost twice the amount of the USA. We can attest to the high-quality of developer talent available in this country at a more accessible cost than in many other regions.

They also really like trading Bitcoin! According to research from peer-to-peer Bitcoin trading platform LocalBitcoins, Russians have consistently topped the ranking for the most bitcoin trading volume over the last couple of years.

Blockchain Companies 

The Russian government so far seems to have a very friendly approach to blockchain technology, carrying out multiple experiments, most notably in finance. Its new legislation toward cryptocurrencies should serve to provide clarity for cryptocurrency users and businesses in this space and perhaps even encourage more companies to incorporate themselves here.

Of note among some of the most successful Russian tech startups are St. Petersburg-based behemoth social media platform Telegram, clean energy company InTech, and mobile tech operators Smart Locks.

Telegram recently ventured into the cryptocurrency space by holding an ICO last year. While the company is still in talks with the US SEC over the legality of issuing its GRAM tokens to US users, Telegram shows tech and crypto innovation at its finest.

According to a report by Tracxn, there are already some 292 blockchain startups in Russia, and blockchain development firms abound here. Russia is also home to our trusted partners Changelly that allows you to buy DGTX from the best source at the best rate simply by using an email.

We couldn’t be happier to have found the very best blockchain developers for Digitex. Not only is SmartDec skilled in cybersecurity and smart contract auditing, and a mountain of programming languages, but they’re also some of the best in the Ethereum space.

Wrapping It Up

We’re happy to call Moscow our home for now. Ever since Adam arrived here, he’s had nothing but positive words to say about the quality of talent here and the impressive size and accessibility of the blockchain ecosystem. Digitex is proud to be a company adding to the scene here and to be a robust bitcoin futures exchange built by Russian talent.