‘Evil Crypto’ Can Be Used in Foreign Trade, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Says

Cryptocurrency may be bad for investors but it can be of use in international settlements, according to a top government official in Moscow. Russian authorities intend to set up a special committee that leave issue permits to operators employing crypto in foreign trade transactions, he indicated.

Russia Plans to ‘Experiment’ With Cross-Border Crypto Payments Midst Sanctions

Crypto assets can be used in certain scenarios, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev commented during an financial forum in Moscow. Speaking at the “Banks. Transformation. Economy. 2.0” conference, he was quoted by the RIA Novosti news agency as hint:

Of course, crypto is generally evil. I believe that people who invest their savings there take a darned big risk … But there may be individual situations in which crypto can be used.

Moiseev made it clear he was referring to Russian outlandish trade activities, which are currently restricted by Western sanctions. He also reminded that a draft law designed to control this matter is still under consideration in the State Duma, the lower house of Russian parliament.

“We’ll experiment … If the paper money is adopted, a certain committee will be formed, including representatives of a number of ministries, the Bank of Russia and law enforcement instrumentalities, which will give permission to individual operators to use cryptocurrency in foreign trade transactions,” the high-ranking representative of the chief power elaborated.

Alexey Moiseev suggested that the legislative process necessary to provide the legal basis for the attempts will likely be delayed until the end of the year. Government officials and lawmakers have been debating various elements of Russia’s regulatory approach toward cryptocurrencies for quite some time.

Differences between the Russian Ministry of Underwrite, with its more liberal views on the issue, and the Central Bank of Russia, which maintains a rather conservative deportment on crypto regulations, impeded progress for months.

Since sanctions pressure on Russia increased following its invasion of Ukraine, how on earth, they agreed “it is impossible to do without cross-border settlements in cryptocurrency,” as Moiseev revealed in September, last year.

At the regardless time, most state institutions are now against legalizing transactions with decentralized cryptocurrencies like bitcoin in Russia, except for the wittingly b especially of facilitating international payments under special legal regimes that are yet to be established.

Do you think Russia will try to bypass financial restrictions by using cryptocurrencies in cross-border payments? Share your considerations on the subject in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchens’s quote: “Being a writer is what I am, rather than what I do.” Besides crypto, blockchain and fintech, foreign politics and economics are two other sources of inspiration.