After China, it is with Iran that Russia has just finalized an agreement to trade in their local currencies instead of the US dollar. When will bitcoin come?
Russian-Persian dedollarization
Iranian Central Bank President Mohsen Karimi and his Russian counterpart Elvira Nabiullina reached agreements in Moscow to conduct bilateral trade using their national currencies.
“Banks and economic actors can now use non-SWIFT interbank systems to carry out transactions in local currencies”we can read in Iranian state media.
These systems are on the one hand the SPFS (System for Transfer of Financial Messages) designed by the Russian central bank. And on the other hand the Asian Clearing Union (ACU) headed by Iran.
Disconnected from the SWIFT network for much longer than Russia, Iran has developed an alternative with the central banks of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. The payment system was unveiled this summer.
“Dedollarization is no longer a voluntary choice of certain countries, it is an inevitable response to the militarization of the dollar”declared Iran’s first vice-president Mohammad Mokhber.
Furthermore, the members of the Eurasian Economic Union (Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Russia) also signed a agreement of free trade with Iran on December 25.
Let us also remember that the Persians have just joined the BRICS club which openly advocates the dedollarization of economic exchanges.
Knowing that Iran is an emerging exporting power with its immense gas and oil reserves. Only Russia has more gas. Its largest oil reserves after Canada, Saudi Arabia and Venezuela.
A monetary rebellion leading to bitcoin?
Iran has become increasingly important to the Kremlin since Western sanctions linked to the Ukraine conflict limited its export routes.
The naval blockade of the Red Sea orchestrated covertly by Tehran will benefit the ambitious international north-south Russia-Iran-India transport corridor (INSTC).
Russia, Iran and India signed the INSTC agreement in May 2022. It is a multimodal network – ship, rail, road – passing through three axes: West, Trans-Caspian and East. The Russian port of Astrakhan, on the Caspian Sea, is crucial for these three routes plunging into the Indian Ocean via the Iranian deep-water port of Chabahar.
Another proof of the rapprochement between Russians and Iranians: military cooperation. Iran supplies drones in exchange for Su-35 fighter jets and Mi-28 attack helicopters.
The conflict in Palestine appears to be used by regional powers to increase pressure. The goal ultimately being to put an end to the hegemony of the dollar on which the standard of living of Americans depends.
In this context of fragmentation of payment systems and reserve currencies, bitcoin should do well. It is already widely used in Iran as well as in Russia to circumvent the disconnection of the SWIFT network.
Bitcoin is an absolute store of value as well as a stateless and uncensorable payment network. This is exactly what the world needs to trade in arms and calm international relations.
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