Russia Might Consider Accepting Bitcoin Payments Against Its Oil and Gas Exports Says Official

Amid ongoing sanctions from the Western countries, Russia is seeking new ways to trade with countries across the world. On Thursday, March 24, the chair of Russia’s Duma committee on energy, Pavel Zavalzy spoke about the possibility of accepting Bitcoin payments against the countries oil and gas exports.

He added that for “friendly” countries like China and Turkey, Russia is willing to be flexible with payment options. Chair Pavel Zavalny said that they are considering transactions in nation currency as well as Bitcoin.

He added: “We have been proposing to China for a long time to switch to settlements in national currencies for rubles and yuan. With Turkey, it will be lira and rubles. You can also trade bitcoins”.

The decision comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin asked countries like U.K, Germany and other European allies to pay in Ruble against their purchases of oil and gas. Russia has been facing an embargo of sanctions from the West owing to its invasion of Ukraine and has been cut off from the global SWIFT system. This has made it difficult for the country to deal with its trade partners.

Many market analysts believe that the sanctions on Russia will provide a boost to the use of cryptocurrencies. On Thursday, Larry Fink, the CEO of world’s largest asset manager BlackRock reiterated this stand.

Fink said: “The Russian invasion of Ukraine has put an end to the globalization we have experienced over the last three decades. A less-discussed aspect of the war is its potential impact on accelerating digital currencies. The war will prompt countries to re-evaluate their currency dependencies”.

There have been several concerns recently about Russia using crypto to evade sanctions. As a result, crypto exchanges based in the Western countries have been asked to keep a close watch on the movement of funds and report any potential large and suspicious transactions done from Russia.

Some of the U.S. lawmakers have also asked exchanges to put a blanket ban on Russian users. However, exchanges have refrained from doing so. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong justified his stand saying: “Some ordinary Russians are using crypto as a lifeline now that their currency has collapsed”.

Amig this ongoing geopolitical conflict, crypto has once again taken the centre-stage.