The Russian tax office suggested in April that legal businesses in the country be allowed to receive Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment in international trade transactions. Now there’s further attention on it as Russia is actively discussing the use of cryptocurrency in international trade.
According to local news site Interfax, Russia’s Ministry of Finance is contemplating permitting the use of cryptocurrencies for foreign trade.
According to the report, “the issue of using such digital currencies as barter transactions for international settlements is being actively discussed.” Ivan Chebeskov, director of the Ministry of Finance’s financial policy department, said.
This idea has been mentioned by Russian officials several times this year.
Pavel Zavalny, the chairman of Russia’s Congressional energy committee, said in a media briefing in March that the country was open to adopting bitcoin for natural resource exports. President Vladimir Putin had indicated the day before that “unfriendly” nations must pay for Russian gas in rubles, therefore Zavalny emphasized that only “friendly” countries like China and Turkey would be offered the choice.
The Russian tax office suggested in April that legal businesses in the country be allowed to receive bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies as payment in international trade transactions. The remark was made in response to the Ministry of Finance’s proposal to reform the country’s cryptocurrency draft bill, which was introduced in February.
The finance minister seems to have played a key role in persuading the country to refrain from outright banning Bitcoin. Its proposed draft legislation came after a heated debate with the Bank of Russia, which held differing views on the best way to regulate bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in Russia.
Now, the ministry is contemplating including a wider base of “digital currencies” among the permitted payment methods for international trade, as Russia continues to face Western sanctions that began in February, when US President Joe Biden barred five of Russia’s largest banks and seized all assets worth over $1 trillion held in the US.
“If the digital currency is recognized as property, in principle, within the framework of barter transactions with such a digital currency, it will be possible to carry out operations on foreign economic activity,” Chebeskov said, according to an Interfax article on Friday. “This topic is being discussed and, it seems to me, deserves attention, given that we have limited possibilities for settlements in the classical, traditional payment infrastructure.”
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