• Russia’s Congressional finance committee chairman, Anatoly Aksakov, said the country is moving to greenlight international trade in cryptocurrency within the next month.
• The chairman highlighted that although Russia is taking steps to allow bitcoin and cryptocurrency payments for imports, there are no plans to encourage similar usage of the burgeoning assets within the boundaries of the nation’s territory.
• Russian officials have teased at this possibility for almost a year, following an intense package of Western sanctions deployed in the wake of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine.
Russia is set to make a major move in the world of cryptocurrency over the next month, with the country’s Congressional finance committee chairman, Anatoly Aksakov, announcing that the nation is working to greenlight international trade in cryptocurrency. This move would be a major step forward for the country, which has been looking to open up cryptocurrency trading and payments for imports, but has been hesitant to encourage similar usage within its own territory.
The idea of allowing foreign trade transactions and parallel imports to be carried out using cryptocurrency has been floated by Russian officials for almost a year, following a series of Western sanctions imposed in the wake of the nation’s invasion of Ukraine. In January 2022, Russia put out a roadmap for bitcoin regulation, and the Ministry of Finance submitted a proposal the following month. Around the same time, U.S. President Biden announced a series of Russian sanctions, blocking five of the biggest Russian banks and freezing all the assets they held in America.
In response, Russia’s energy committee chairman, Pavel Zavalny, said the nation was open to selling natural gas for bitcoin. “There can be a variety of currencies, and that’s a standard practice. If they want bitcoin, we will trade in bitcoin,” he said in a press conference at the time.
Now, the country is taking steps to make these plans a reality. Aksakov said that while the circulation of cryptocurrencies as a means of payment on the territory of Russia will be prohibited, with liability prescribed in this regard, they can still be used to pay for foreign trade transactions. This could open up a world of possibilities for Russia, allowing the nation to work around the sanctions imposed by the West and make the most of the cryptocurrency boom.
It is clear that Russia is serious about making cryptocurrency a part of its future. With the nation taking steps to greenlight international trade in cryptocurrency within the next month, it is only a matter of time before the country officially enters the world of digital currencies.