Russia May Be Open To Accepting Bitcoin As Payment For Oil And Other Exports

By Kevin • March 24, 2022 1:29 pm • Comments

Recently, the chairman of the  Russian Congressional energy committee has suggested that the country may now be open to accepting Bitcoin as a form of payment for its natural resource exports such as oil and natural gas.

The chairman, Pavel Zavalny, released this new revelation in a press release on Thursday and indicated that the country is exploring all options now due to the recent sanctions.

If this proposal really becomes true, this could set a new foundation for the use of digital assets like Bitcoin as they would be used to facilitate international trade which is traditionally done using reserve fiat currencies.

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The country is suggesting that it would do most likely decide on the form of payment by evaluating its relationship with the countries that it is trading with.

CoinDesk shares further details:

Russia, sanctioned because of its invasion of Ukraine, can sell gas to the West for rubles and gold, and to “friendly” countries such as China or Turkey for either national currency or bitcoins, said Duma deputy Pavel Zavalny.

“If they want to buy, let them pay either in hard currency, and this is gold for us, or pay as it is convenient for us,” Zavalny, chairman of the Duma committee on energy, according to a translation of his comments.

“The set of currencies can be different, and this is normal practice, [so] you can also trade bitcoins,” he continued.

Zavalny’s remarks may or may not be behind a sizable rise in the price of bitcoin over the past 90 minutes.

Bitcoin is now up about 3% on the day, at $44,000 for the first time since a brief price spike in early March.

In addition to Bitcoin, the committee is also backing the notion of facilitating trade with hard currencies as well which would include metals such as gold.

The recent change here marks a shift in what was previously endorsed by the government as the overall view of crypto before the Russian-Ukraine conflict was overall negative with even calls to ban crypto.

As a result, the dramatic shift in opinion has surprised many investors and could encourage new milestones as for what role digital assets will play in the future.

Putin has also stated that he believes that Bitcoin had value, but was unsure whether it could be used to actually be used in the oil trade business.

Other issues at the moment is also the current available liquidity of a digital asset like Bitcoin and whether it would be able to scale for something as large as international trade.

BitcoinMagazine reports:

Russia being open to accepting bitcoin shift the tide as Putin last year had dismissed the possibility in an interview at the Russian Energy Week event in Moscow.

The current size of the Bitcoin market and its liquidity do pose questions as to whether the peer-to-peer currency could be used widely by countries in international trade at this moment.

However, by being open to the possibility and eventually conducting pilot trades with interested parties, Russia could set the stage for an upcoming trend where nations choose to transact in the stateless, global monetary system.

The greater acceptance of digital assets in the international trade will also, by default, possibly set the foundation for other prominent digital assets like XRP and ADA to play a role in the future.

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