Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are already being used by companies in Russia for international payments, the country’s Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told Russia 24, according to a translation by Reuters.
Siluanov said the companies have begun using digital currencies as international payments after laws were passed in July this year to enable such transactions amid wider efforts to counter western sanctions.
The United States and its NATO allies including the European Union have put widespread sanctions against Russia after the Vladimir Putin-led country invaded Ukraine.
Russia has explored several alternatives to the U.S. dollar to setle its international payments —primarily on using the Chinese Yuan more aggressively.
But this hasn’t always played out well. India is a major trade partner for Russia, for example, and is rather uneasy — to put it mildly — with settling payments in the Chinese currency.
With India and Russia aiming to expand their trade to $100 billion from the current $66 billion, they have held multiple rounds of discussions for optimal settlement of payments including potential use of the Indian rupee and setting a reference rate between the INR and the Russian Ruble instead of measuring their values against the U.S. dollar. None if these reported talks have yet materialized.
Russia, India and China are also all part of the nine-member BRICS group of nation, which has “de-dollarization” and finding an alternative reserve currency for international trade as one of its key goals.
BRICS has been exploring using a basket of currencies, primarily those belonging to its core members, as an alternative to the U.S. dollar.
Their discussions around the alternative reserve currency are yet to materialize into substantial results but they have been enough to make the incoming U.S. President Donald Trump so uneasy that he threatened “100% U.S. tariffs” on any BRICS nation that explored an alternative to the U.S. dollar for the reserve currency.
Meanwhile, Trump himself has promised the creation of a Bitcoin strategic reserve for the U.S. itself as he relied on the support of the cryptocurrency community and leaders — who fell slighted and ignored by the ruling Democrats — in his campaign.
Bitcoin is trading at $98,443 at the time of writing, seeing a market correction from the all-time high of $108,268.45 seen on Dec. 17.
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