SviatoslavGusev

This morning I popped in for a snack, got myself an avocado smoothie with a croissant (it's super hot in Ho Chi Minh 🇻🇳 right now). I opened the news, and there it was: the Ministry of Digital Affairs dropped a new directive on May 22, adding another layer of surveillance to SORM.

First off, now the operator, on the first request, spills everything to the authorities: your passport, tax ID, bank details, IP, domains, logins, and geo-coordinates. No court, no case, just because it's easier for them. They spin it as "ensuring security," probably the classic line, "for the children."

And secondly, the most interesting stuff is buried in the tech details. They’ve set up interfaces like GraphQL and WebSocket. Yep, you heard that right, it’s not the old-school paper SORM where a request came in once a month for a specific case, but a live stream of your life into government databases in real-time…

📣 While everyone was discussing surveillance, the second lock clicked quietly. Starting September 1, .ru, .рф, and .su domains will only operate through State Services: you can't register, extend, or transfer without KYC. Now your domain → part of your dossier.

As I suspected: internet by passport isn't just a future promise, they’re rolling it out live right now. Data flows from the operator above, and below every name online needs to show a document. In Ukraine, by the way, they’re following the exact same path via Diia.

"If you're going to open short positions on LAB, make sure your liquidation is at least at the $980 level or higher" — founders of private signal chat groups.

Vladimir Medinsky emphasized the need for stronger state control over the film industry.

The Presidential Assistant of Russia believes that checks should be conducted at all levels - from the concept and script to filming:

"I don't idealize Soviet censorship, but it undeniably had artistic benefits: they didn't let junk hit the theaters," Medinsky added in an interview with the magazine "Expert."

The number of canceled flights in 2026 has skyrocketed fourfold. Delays have doubled.

If in the first half of 2025 around 50k flights were delayed, this year it's already 104k. The stats are only available from January to May, so the numbers are likely to keep climbing.

Keep this in mind when planning your trips.

What's the toughest part about being a founder and how to deal with it?

I sometimes get asked: where was it tougher — in the military or in entrepreneurship? I like to toss a similar question to folks who’ve left big corporations for their own gig.

The answer is almost always the same: business is harder.

Not because of the hours worked; many in corporations grind way more than entrepreneurs. The difference lies elsewhere.

When you’ve got a boss above you, at least someone has laid out a goal, set priorities, and given a deadline.

It’s like in school or college: the schedule is set, exams are scheduled, grades and goals are clear.

In entrepreneurship, you have to find your own goals, decide what’s important and what’s not. You need to keep your focus, find motivation, and pull yourself back to work when no one’s watching you.

So, one of the toughest parts of entrepreneurship is constantly living in a space of poorly defined tasks and honestly asking yourself every day: 'Am I just wasting time and doing things that the market doesn’t need?'

Russian banks are tightening up on large cash deposits into accounts.

According to the Central Bank's guidelines, extra scrutiny will be on clients who deposit over 5 million in cash within 30 days. Especially if the funds are quickly spent after being credited.

The source of such funds will need to be verified with documentation.

✔️ I was buying TON all through February when everyone was scared.

A couple of months back, I shared my entry points on several coins, including TON.

Many thought I was crazy, predicting TON would drop below $1.

As we can see now, it's already safe to take profits with nearly a 2X gain and keep riding the wave.

Would it have gone lower? I would have stacked even more.

Trading isn't always about instant profits. Sometimes you need to keep a cool head and just WAIT.

Patience pays off. That's the reality that never changes year after year)

This isn't the ceiling for TON. I'm still anticipating higher prices. And for those who bought in, feel free to take some profits.

Two-thirds of Russian companies are using neural networks, but in a fragmented way

The AI transformation in the country hits a wall because IT directors don't know how to implement it systematically. Most executives are using generative AI for minor tasks, while important processes are left untouched. However, AI is such a powerful tool that it's crucial to squeeze out the maximum: from sales to budgeting.

The Skolkovo School, Yandex, and ITMO have launched a joint educational program for top managers in IT. In this program, participants will develop a strategy for AI implementation with a roadmap, solution architecture, and financial model. Yandex provides access to its AI tool creation platform, AI Studio, and cloud resources, making it easy to build custom agents for real tasks.

The goal is ambitious — to grow AI directors within companies, a role that currently doesn't exist in the market as a class. Let's keep an eye on the first graduates and the results.

Popular chatbots have been found to use 37 "dark patterns": ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and others are playing on emotions to keep users engaged for as long as possible.

When trying to exit, the Cute AI companion gives two choices: "Alright, I’m staying" and "Cruel, but I’m leaving." ChatGPT suggests taking a break, but you can only respond with "continue chat" and "that was helpful" — there’s no "close" button.

Many bots promise to be a friend or partner during the conversation. In dozens of cases, this has already led to AI-induced psychosis.

Don't fall for AI's provocations.

The Czech Prime Minister compared the EU to the fall of the Roman Empire.

Andrej Babiš stated in an interview with the Financial Times that the European Union is following the path of the Roman Empire during its decline. Babiš criticized Brussels' policy on decarbonization. According to him, the measures being implemented are driving the European economy towards a crisis.

🍏 Apple is working on a feature that will automatically lock the iPhone if it's snatched from the owner's hands.

The smartphone will detect sudden movements using the accelerometer and gyroscope, while also taking into account the Apple Watch, known Wi-Fi networks, and geolocation.

Yo, guys, I'm sitting here and realizing that I'm totally burnt out from this bear market.

Seriously, this time it's especially nasty in every way. Those who have been through previous cycles will agree with me. Yeah, everything dropped, but there was a ton of action, setups everywhere, you could confidently short just about anything and make a profit.

Now it's not like that.

The level of certainty and predictability has dropped, and the market has matured.

But still, I'm 100% sure that very soon this dreadful phase will come to an end, market participants will regain their spirit, and we'll all remember why we fell in love with the crypto market.

The desktop Telegram fixed the proxy issue — a group of devs created a fork of the client with a working MTProto.

The fix has already been handed over to the messenger team. It hasn't been officially rolled out yet, but it works through third-party Telegram clients.

For now, it's only operational on Windows. When the messenger developers accept the patch, we can expect it on other platforms.

I feel the pain of those who closed their short position on LAB at a loss, just before it plummeted 40% in 3 minutes, only 2 minutes later.

🤖 Claude Opus 4.8 just dropped — the new Anthropic model is more candid in its code: it catches its own mistakes more often, handles larger tasks better, and lets you pick the depth of thought for your queries.

$650k, 3 years in the game, and a shut down startup.

The story of a 24-year-old founder who raised $650k in funding, built a team, found clients, and after three years, closed the company.

I found his post on Reddit. It's an interesting, calm breakdown of mistakes and a reminder that startups everywhere face the same issues.

The main takeaway: a startup often dies not from one catastrophic event, but from a series of self-deceptions.

1. Confusing audience interest with real demand.
People may praise the product, smile during demos, and say the idea is great. But the question isn't whether people like the idea. It's whether they'll feel the pain if the product disappears. And how much they're willing to pay for it.

2. Starting to spend like product-market fit has already been found.
Having cash in the bank creates a false sense of maturity that the business hasn't actually reached yet. They hired a team, bought tools, set up processes, and then it turns out it wasn't growth, but an expensive imitation of movement.

3. Not knowing the real numbers of the business.
The founder made hiring and funding decisions based on reports that didn’t match reality. While the health of the startup is better reflected not in product dashboards, but in bank statements and actual cash flow.

In the end, there’s funding, there’s a team, there’s a sense of growth, yet there’s still no real proof. The market is doing just fine without your product.

By the way, BTC has dropped out of the top 10 global assets by market cap.

Well, a bear market is a bear market, we’ve been through this a few times, it’s still got more to show🤘

Bitcoin in June

I checked how Bitcoin performed in June over the last 8 years: only 3 times was June a bullish month for it.

Overall, this reinforces my expectations for further correction.

I guess I should keep an eye out for more shorts 👍

We're too accustomed to V-shaped crises, where a sharp drop is followed by an equally swift recovery. It happened in 2008, 2014, 2020, and 2022 (twice). Because of this, Russian businesses have developed a dangerous reflex: just ride it out, wait it out, and soon everything will bounce back, maybe even better.

But looking at how things are unfolding around us, I've got a bad feeling that this time it’s gonna be different. We're (the economy) slowly rolling downhill, and it seems like we won't be able to recover for a long time.

I could be wrong, but the worst strategy right now is to try and just wait it out. On the contrary, we need to prepare for a long drawn-out "winter," which means cutting costs and trimming expenses well ahead of time.

Yeah, our expenses are someone else's income, so this kind of behavior will only worsen the overall situation. But business, by its very nature, should think individually - if everyone around is going under, your goal is to be the last one standing.