After Iran, it will soon be Russia that will use bitcoin to circumvent the sanctions that prevent it from carrying out international transactions.
Bitcoin, Da?
The Russian government has taken a keen interest in Bitcoin since disconnecting its banks from the SWIFT network. Acting stealthily, the Ministries of Finance and Energy managed to subdue the Russian central bank, which did not want to hear anything.
“The exchanges will be used to carry out international transactions and thus circumvent the restrictions linked to the sanctions”said the chairman of the Duma Financial Markets Committee Antoly Aksalov.
“The idea of creating a government exchange has been abandoned”he confided in an interview with the newspaper Izvestia. “We will instead establish a regulatory framework for private exchanges”. A law could be submitted to the Duma before the end of the second quarter of 2023.
The Izvestia newspaper reports that the Russian central bank will regulate these exchanges and that a compromise has also been found to regulate the sale of bitcoins by minors.
Russian Central Bank Vice President Alexei Guznov, however, told Izvestia ” that it is still premature to speak of exchanges in the classic sense of the term”. “These will most likely be organizations that transact in digital currencies. Russian companies will be able to settle parallel imports through them. »
Russian bitcoiners are satisfied
The private sector has welcomed these latest developments. “This will help minimize the risks associated with sanctions, cyberattacks and abuse of a dominant position”launches Oleg Ogienko, director of government relations at the miner BitRiver.
“Such a system will allow the emergence of more competitive and innovative companies”estimates for his part Ivan Gostev, commercial director of GIS Mining. “Some countries have already developed legislation that regulates exchanges while leaving some freedom necessary for the development of the industry. »
“These exchanges allowing international transactions in cryptocurrencies will help national companies circumvent sanctions”says Alexey Tarapovsky, founder of Anderida Financial Group. “Payments worth around $10 billion a year are already being made in cryptocurrencies”he confides.
Same story from the side of the communication director of the Garantex exchange. Evgenia Burova estimates the market at “several trillions of rubles”. “There are now many countries where companies and individuals are able to accept cryptocurrency payments. »
Cross-border transfers will be difficult to conceal, but they cannot be blocked, points out Stanislav Rozhdestvensky, director of strategic development at CoinKit:
“The biggest cryptocurrencies [Bitcoin] have a public structure. But their transactions are impossible to censor, unlike bank transactions. »
All these statements are linked to the fact that President Putin has very recently pleaded for “a decentralized financial system”.
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