Russia may accept BTC as payments for gas, lawmaker suggests
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Amid sanctions after invading Ukraine, Russia may turn to BTC as a form of payment for exported oil and gas and other resources.
This was suggested by the chairman of the Energy Committee of the Russian Duma (Russian parliament), Pavel Zavalny, during a press conference held on Thursday (24).
According to Zavalny, Russia can sell gas to the West for rubles. Or, you can market your products to “partner” countries, such as Turkey and China, both for Russian currency and for Bitcoin.
It is worth noting that last year China banned any business involving cryptocurrencies, from trading to mining. Therefore, it is unlikely that the Asian nation will choose to buy from Russia with BTC.
“We have been offering China for some time to switch to transactions in national currencies such as the ruble and renminbi. With Turkey, that would be the Lira and the Ruble. Currency sets may be different; it is common practice. If it was necessary to trade with BTC, we would,” Zavalny said.
Business with BTC
Russia’s strategy of only accepting payments in rubles is an attempt to make the national currency rise again. At the same time, the country wants to cut the use of the US dollar and the euro.
“For us, that currency turns into candy wrappers,” commented Zavalny. “We have lost all interest in euros and dollars,” Zavalny said.
On Wednesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Russia would start demanding payments in rubles for natural gas from “hostile countries”. He also ordered the central bank to develop a mechanism for the country to accept these payments within a week.
Meanwhile, the acceptance of BTC could be a way for the country to try to circumvent sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union.
Furthermore, BTC is a decentralized digital currency that has no cross-border limitations, nor any kind of government control.
Its rival in the war, Ukraine, also turned to cryptocurrencies to arm itself. According to platform Elliptic, over $100 million worth of BTC, ETH Polkadot, Dogecoin and other digital currencies have been donated to Ukraine since the invasion began about a month ago.
