The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, made new remarks suggesting there is a growing tolerance for Bitcoin and cryptos in the Kremlin during his interview with CNBC that was published on the Kremlin’s website this Thursday, Bloomberg says.
“I believe it has some value,” Putin said to CNBC’s Hadley Gamble at the Russian Energy event being held in Moscow this week. “But I do not think it can be used within the oil trade.”
The questions came out of concern for how Russia might exit dollar-denominated oil agreements due to United States economic sanctions.
Putin stated that while Bitcoin and cryptocurrency might exist as a payment means, it is still “too soon” to talk about crude contracts being completed with Bitcoin or crypto instead of with dollars.
The Russian president also showed concerns about the energy needed to keep the Bitcoin network, however, he conveyed a clear goal to move Russia away from its United States dollar reliance.
“I believe the United States makes a huge mistake in using their dollar as an instrument of sanction,” he said. “We have no other choice but to go to other currencies.” In June, Russia said it would remove the U.S. dollar asset from its wealth fund.
“About this, we can say the U.S. bites the hand that feeds it,” Putin said. “This dollar is their competitive advantage. It is a universal reserve currency, and the United States today uses it to push political goals, and they hurt their economic and strategic interests because of this.”
While it not clear enough to report if Russia is thinking about replacing the U.S. dollar with Bitcoin, it is clear that its officials understand the dollar is not a good reserve currency in the long term and that Bitcoin might pose a possible neutral alternative.
This comes almost one month after the acting media secretary for Putin, Dmitry Peskov, stated that Russia has no cause to recognize Bitcoin.
Many Bitcoiners want to see which nation will adopt Bitcoin next in state capacity. While Russia might not be a close-term contender for Bitcoin usage, its government is now talking about it like it’s on the table.
Author: Blake Ambrose
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