In an effort to the bypass economic sanctions imposed on the country over Ukraine, Russia is accepting Bitcoin for its natural gas supply contracts.
Russia was initially hit with crippling economic sanctions after its military campaign into Ukraine. However as the campaign continues, matters are becoming extremely complicated. The European Union is dependent on Moscow for oil and natural gas to heat homes during the winter. The sanctions threaten their supply as Russia is unable to receive payments for their supply contracts.
“Russia will continue, of course, to supply natural gas in accordance with volumes and prices … fixed in previously concluded contracts,” Putin said at a televised meeting with top government ministers, the NY Post reported. However, there is a catch, the terms of the contracts according to Putin, will need to be changed.
Putin had already earlier stated that non-friendly countries will be required to pay for their existing gas contracts in Rubles and not in euros in order to maintain supply.
The chairman of the Russians Congressional energy committee, Pavel Zavalny was reported as stating that Russia is open to accepting different currencies for its exports. Concerning natural gas the chairman said terms of supply will depend on the importing country’s foreign relations status with Russia.
“When it comes to our ‘friendly’ countries, like China or Turkey, which don’t pressure us, then we have been offering them for a while to switch payments to national currencies, like rubles and yuan,” Zavalny said during the press conference.
“With Turkey, it can be lira and rubles. So there can be a variety of currencies, and that’s a standard practice. If they want bitcoin, we will trade in bitcoin.”
The world’s largest country after being swamped in Western sanctions, is now seeking alternatives to the U.S. dollar. in order to trade its commodities. This has led to other trade currencies to be considered.
“When we exchange with Western countries…they should pay in hard money,” Zavalny said. “And hard money is gold, or they must pay in currencies which are convenient for us, and that is the national currency – ruble. That relates to our ‘unfriendly’ countries.”
The Bank of Russia and the country’s Ministry of Finance have reconsidered their positions toward cryptocurrency, acknowledging it to be necessary to legalize the use of cryptocurrencies in cross-border settlements, per a report by local news outlet TASS.
According to TASS, the two government bodies have agreed that “it is impossible” to continue without enabling cryptocurrency as a legal payment method for international trade. The necessary regulatory framework for when Russia is accepting Bitcoin will still need to be introduced.
The announcement that Russia is accepting Bitcoin for oil and gas comes with the next set of issues as how to best regulate the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets.
EDITOR: With the big Reset looming some countries like Australia and the US are looking into digital reserve currencies. However, it does well to notice when the headlines report that Russia is accepting Bitcoin for its commodities like gas and oil. This appears to be the first steps into crypto being adopted as a credible instrument of payment for international trade.
From an End of Day’s perspective cryptocurrency would be one of the few ways to control all global trade. The fully programmable nature of the digital currency and the necessary online access, would make it a perfect fit for the fulfilment of that biblical prophecy. The prophecies state that the end-time power would be able to control a system that would stop an individual’s access to any trade or payment. This really is a space to watch.
Source: Image: Andrey Rudakov | Bloomberg | Getty Images
