The government of Russia is facing the worst financial sanctions and social boycott in its history due to its plan to invade Ukraine. However, the government officials of Russia have found a way to circumvent some of the monetary pushback with the help of cryptocurrencies. A report published by an independent media house in Russia, Interfax, confirms the rumours around the subject.
Russia has been unable to deliver its international trades on account of the ongoing western sanctions. Since the country has been exiled from the SWIFT network, its ability to use traditional payments has dropped significantly. Under the current circumstances, the government of Russia does not have any choice but to turn to cryptocurrencies as an emergency alternative.
International Trade Contracts in Crypto
Ivan Chebeskov is the finance minister of Russia who recently told the media that the state has been using cryptocurrencies as barter to settle its international trade and financial contracts. He further explained that in case digital currencies become recognized as a legal commodity, the inclusion of digital currencies in the foreign economic deals would become more fluid.
Russia is currently under a circle of fire that does not allow the nation to keep trading cryptocurrencies. After showing scepticism towards cryptocurrencies, the government of Russia has started to warm up to the idea of wider cryptocurrency adoption in the region. The Finance Minister of Russia further added that the topic of digital currencies is no more pushed behind the scenes, and there is an increasing amount of discussion on the topic going on, which is a positive development.
In the first quarter of the current year, Pavel Zalvany, an experienced legislator hailing from Russia, claimed that the government is moving in favour of accepting Bitcoin as a legal tender in the region. He further claimed that many unfriendly nations are ready to pay in Rubles only for energy purchases.
He has been part of the state committee that is working on finding an alternative payment platform to facilitate international trade for Russia. There are some risks involved with using cryptocurrencies as the main medium of exchange, like speculative sensitivity and volatile prices. On the other hand, China, one of the Russia allied nations, has also had some bad run-ins with cryptocurrencies.