Did the Russian president just suggest the use of bitcoin for international transactions?
“Blockchain”
Vladimir Putin spoke this week at the VTB bank “Russia Calling” forum. He recalled that global economic relations were experiencing changes “radical and irreversible” due to the emergence of a “multipolar model” :
“What we want is to create a new model, a truly democratic model where honest competition between all economic players will dominate. However, Western elites are trying to slow it down, to artificially contain growth in what they consider to be the global periphery, which they have traditionally exploited and used as a resource, as a colonial rent. To achieve this goal, they resort to sanctions, for example provoking conflicts in entire macro-regions in an attempt to maintain their declining dominance. »
The Russian tsar said the actions undermine decades-old financial, trade and economic ties. Sanctions also “discredited the financial infrastructure dominated by the dollar and euro, transactions carried out through Western banks and the international payment network SWIFT”.
“Let me remind you that one of the first decisions taken by the West last year was to disconnect Russian banks from Visa and Mastercard systems. The bet was that this would make it impossible to pay for goods and services. That payments would collapse and this would cripple the country’s banking sector.
But what actually happened? Individuals and businesses didn’t even notice the transition to the national payment system […]. As a result, we stopped paying commissions to Western companies Who therefore saw profits soar. »
Mr. Putin welcomed the fact that international transactions in national currencies are increasingly replacing the dollar, going so far as to qualify the Western financial system “technologically obsolete”.
Bitcoin for BRICS?
What technology can replace the SWIFT network as well as the dollar? The Russian president mentioned blockchain and central bank digital currencies:
“When it comes to international transactions, we are increasingly converting to advanced solutions, including those involving blockchain and digital currencies through central banks. »
Difficult to say if Vladimir Putin was only referring to the CBDC. CBDCs are indeed not blockchains. Was this a nod to bitcoin?
Furthermore, let us recall that the Russian president declared two years ago that it was possible to use bitcoin for payments, or even as a reserve currency:
“Cryptocurrency could be a unit of account, but it is unstable. To transfer money, perhaps, but it’s too early to consider trading energy and resources in crypto. […] Crypto has the right to develop and we will see if it also becomes a store of value. »
Russia being very hungry for gold, we can bet that bitcoin will eventually be recognized at its true value: gold, but better.
Bitcoin is a reserve currency as well as a payment system. Two in one. Stateless and uncensorable, it is with the Lightning Network the perfect replacement for the dollar/SWIFT tandem. He has been biding his time for fourteen years now.
The Bank for International Settlements’ CBDC system would at best be a pale redundancy as centralized as the SWIFT network.
Let’s finish by remembering that Russia is also working on a “retail CBDC” for everyday life. Mistrust…
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