Will Russia Start Paying With Crypto Soon?
As the Russian news outlet TASS reported on Monday, the government there plans to legalize cryptocurrencies for international trade.
As the Russian news outlet TASS reported on Monday, the government there plans to legalize cryptocurrencies for international trade. According to Deputy Finance Minister Aleksey Moiseev, the Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance agree: ",,Under the current circumstances, it is impossible to conduct it without international cryptocurrency payments.'"
Legalization of cryptocurrencies for international trade
Since the start of the war in Ukraine, Russia has been cutoff from the international payments system SWIFT. The system is essential for secure processing of payments on an international level. Apparently Russia now wants to use blockchain technology as an alternative.
Trade will probably only be available for pro-Russian countries. As early as March, BTC-ECHO reported on Russian efforts to start trade with "friendly" countries. Pavel Zavalny, chairman of the State Duma Committee on Energy of the Russian Federation, commented on trade with China and Turkey at the time. "We have long proposed that China settles rubles and yuan in local currencies. With Turkey it will be the lira and the ruble," he said in the spring. He also did not rule out Bitcoin trade at the time.
In May it was Denis Manturov, the Russian minister of Industry and Trade, who spoke about the legalization of cryptocurrencies. It is therefore "only a matter of time." Now, in a recent interview with Russia-24 (a news channel in Russia), Aleksey Moiseev clarified that when it comes to regulating the cryptocurrency market, it is still in its early stages. So far there is no law allowing trading with cryptocurrencies.
Tighter rules on British crypto exchanges
Meanwhile, the British tax authorities want to keep targeting Russian individuals and bind them to the sanctions the West has imposed. The official sanction guidance was updated on September 2 by the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation at the UK Treasury.
The "Financial Sanctions Notice" spells out which crypto assets should be frozen when sanctions are imposed on an individual or entity. Crypto exchanges should therefore act immediately if they suspect a customer will be sanctioned or if they suspect a sanctions violation.
Iran legalizes crypto payments for imports
Russia isn’t the first country to use cryptocurrencies to evade economic sanctions either. Iran, sanctioned for its nuclear program and support for Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, has long relied on the potential alternative.
According to reports from the local press agency Tasnim, there is now a law legalizing the use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment for imports. Initial attempts had already been made. Early August said that "the use of cryptocurrencies and smart contracts in foreign trade with selected target countries" would be on a large scale by the end of September.
