Russia is ready to accept bitcoin for its natural resource exports, the chairman of the country’s Congressional Energy Committee, Pavel Zavalny, told a press conference on Thursday.
Zavalny explained that Russia is willing to accept different currencies for its exports, starting with natural gas, depending on the buyer’s preferred method of payment. However, the president said the terms would depend on the status of the importing country’s foreign relations with Russia.
“When it comes to our ‘friendly’ countries, such as China or Turkey, who do not put pressure on us, we have been offering them for some time to transfer payments to national currencies, such as the ruble and the yuan. “, said Zavalny during the press. conference. “With Turkey, it can be liras and rubles. So there can be a variety of currencies, and that’s common practice. If they want bitcoin, we’ll trade bitcoin.
Zavalny’s statement follows comments by President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday demanding that “unfriendly” countries pay for Russian gas in rubles. Putin’s message was clear, but it is unclear whether Russia can unilaterally change existing contracts concluded in euros.
The chairman of the State Duma energy committee echoed Putin’s decision while adding that the country should also accept gold.
“When we trade with Western countries…they should pay in hard money,” Zavalny said. “And hard money is gold, or they have to pay in currencies convenient for us, and this is the national currency – the ruble. This concerns our “unfriendly” countries.
With Russia being open to accepting bitcoin, Putin dismissed the possibility last year in an interview at the Russian Energy Week event in Moscow.
“I believe it has value,” Putin said at the time, referring to Bitcoin. “But I don’t believe it can be used in oil trading.”
The current Bitcoin market size and its liquidity raise questions as to whether the peer-to-peer currency could be widely used by countries in international trade at this time.
However, by being open to this possibility and possibly conducting pilot exchanges with interested parties, Russia could set the stage for a coming trend where nations choose to transact in the global stateless monetary system.
– With the help of Anastasia Iurciac.