According to Russian state news agency Tass, the country cannot access dollars or euros and is using stablecoins for payments with “friendly” countries. Russia is expanding its crypto strategy in order to bypass Western sanctions.
Alexey Moiseyev, Deputy Finance Minister, today stated that the country is looking into stablecoins for payments with “friendly” countries according Russian state news agency Tass.
According to the country’s largest news agency, Moiseyev stated that Russia was working to create bilateral platforms with “tokenized instrument” in order to avoid the use of U.S. dollars or euros.
Stablecoins is a type cryptocurrency that can be pegged to another asset like dollars or gold. They are stable and not volatile like Bitcoin and other digital assets. Tether’s USDT, Circle’s USDC are the top crypto market stablecoins.
Stablecoins offer a way to avoid fiat currencies
Crypto traders use these coins to quickly enter or exit positions in other coins and tokens, without having to convert to fiat currencies, such as U.S. Dollars, or where access to dollars is restricted or prohibited.
Moiseyev stated that he is currently in talks with several countries to establish bilateral platforms to avoid the use of dollars and euros. He said that stablecoins could be tied to a widely recognized instrument such as gold, whose value is easily observable by all participants.
Tuesday’s statement didn’t specify to whom the “tokenized instrument” would be pegged.
Tass stated that the Finance Ministry will resolve cross-border payments in cryptocurrency this autumn session.
Sanctions limit Russia’s use of the Dollar, Euro and other markets
After Russia invaded Ukraine in February, the West strongly sanctioned Russia. Russia has limited access to the euro and dollar markets, and this is affecting the country’s economy.
Russia has been discussing crypto since years ago, but the Russian government has not yet taken a clear stance on the matter. According to reports, the government began investigating Bitcoin in 2019 as a way of avoiding U.S. sanctions.
In January, President Vladimir Putin stated that Russia could be a good mining partner for the largest cryptocurrency market cap. However, in July Putin signed an act banning Russian citizens using digital assets for payments.
