First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudaeva said international crypto payments could happen.
Crypto in Russia has undergone possibly the most unexpected and swift turn from heel to face in mere months.
Not so long ago, Russia said it would not ban crypto. But it did so because it was impractical and not out of conviction. However, regulation quickly turned from stringent to quite benevolent, as several ministries started pushing for favorable rules in light of the country's complex geopolitical situation.
However, now it seems that Russia may soon endorse crypto for international transactions after the central bank softened its former hard stance on the matter. In an interview with Reuters, First Deputy Governor Ksenia Yudaeva said:
"In principle, we do not object to the use of cryptocurrency in international transactions."
That comes only days after the Ministry of Finance amended its upcoming crypto bill to include such a possibility. The Bank of Russia has traditionally been the most anti-crypto branch of Russian government but is seemingly falling in line with the leadership's directive to embrace crypto. Yudaeva further noted:
"We still believe that the active use of cryptocurrency within the country, especially within Russia’s financial infrastructure, creates great risks for citizens and users. We believe that in our country those risks could be reasonably large."
Experts will not be surprised by this u-turn, as Russia is being forced to diversify away from dollar payments in light of harsh financial sanctions imposed by the US and its allies. President Putin personally acknowledged the competitive advantage Russia has in crypto mining, so a stronger push into the crypto sector was always on the cards for Russia.
Crypto regulation should now be a matter of months, if not weeks, as the country rushes to rebuild its flow of payments. Even so, crypto bulls should not expect a big uptake on Russia's offer to pay in crypto, as the country will still need to find counterparties to trade in digital currency.
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