The U.S. is moving to sever a small Swiss bank from access to the U.S. financial system for its alleged support for Iranian and Russian actors, as U.S. and Iranian officials hold indirect talks Thursday in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear negotiations, the Associated Press reported. Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network proposed a federal regulation Thursday that, if finalized, would prohibit U.S. institutions from doing business with MBaer Merchant Bank AG, which has no relation to the larger Swiss bank Julius Baer. The bank is accused of funneling over $100 million through the U.S.

Ukraine will see less economic growth this year due to extensive destruction of Ukraine's energy infrastructure by Russia over the winter, an international development bank said Thursday, as businesses struggle to keep going into the fifth year of Russia's invasion, the Associated Press reported. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Redevelopment halved its 2026 growth forecast for the country to 2.5% in its current outlook from 5% growth in the previous estimate from September.

BitRiver, Russia’s largest crypto mining firm, is facing potential bankruptcy after a regional arbitration court opened insolvency supervision proceedings against its controlling shareholder, Decrypt.com reported. Igor Runets, BitRiver’s founder and chief executive, was reportedly placed under house arrest on tax evasion charges after a Moscow district court issued a ruling last week.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he had agreed on a trade deal with India that slashes U.S. tariffs on Indian goods to 18% from 50% in exchange for India lowering trade barriers, stopping its purchases of Russian oil and buying oil instead from the U.S. and ​potentially Venezuela, Reuters reported.

The head of Russia's lower house of the country’s parliament on Thursday said that crypto market regulations will be ready by June of this year and come into force on July 1, 2027, CoinDesk.com reported. Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on Financial Markets, said that qualified and unqualified investors will be allowed to purchase cryptocurrencies although under separate rules, according to the Duma’s official news outlet. A cap will be in place on retail investors' crypto purchases with the figure of 300,000 rubles ($4,000) being discussed, he added.

Russia’s defense institute NIISSU is in severe financial distress even as it continues work on “Sword,” a sophisticated command-and-control system for China’s People’s Liberation Army, United24 Media reported. NIISSU is one of the key enterprises in Russia’s military-industrial complex, specializing in automated command-and-control systems. Its developments are used in several countries allied with Russia. The institute’s most well-known project is the so-called “Sword,” which drew widespread attention after a major leak of internal documents online last year.

A domestic supplier of electronic components, Quantum, intends to file a bankruptcy petition against Angstrom Research and Production Association, www1.ru reported. The company underpaid more than 20 million rubles for the supply of components. The announcement of Quantum's plans appeared in the register of legally significant information at the end of November 2025. Preliminary, Angstrom Research and Production Association underpaid for the supply of electronic components. In this regard, a lawsuit was filed against the enterprise.

Sberbank, Russia’s second-largest bank, issued the country's first bitcoin-backed loan to one of its largest bitcoin miners, calling the transaction a pilot and suggesting it was keen to issue more in the future, CoinDesk.com reported. “We believe this product will be relevant not only for cryptocurrency miners, but also for companies that own cryptocurrencies,” the bank said in a statement. It did not disclose the loan amount. The bank said it used its own crypto custody product, Rutoken, to hold the bitcoin used as collateral for the crypto loan.