Amidst all the harsh sanctions coming from Western countries due to its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is now considering recognizing Bitcoin as a payment method for its oil and gas exports.
On Thursday, in a news conference the chair of Russia’s Duma Committee on energy said that for “friendly” countries like China or Turkey, Russia can be more flexible with payment options.
Chairman Pavel Zavalny also commented that Russia can export energy sources to the West for rubles and gold, and to friendly countries like China or Turkey for national currency or bitcoins.
“We have been proposing to China for a long time to switch to settlements in national currencies for rubles and yuan” Zavalny disclosed in the conference.
“With Turkey, it will be lira and rubles.”
He added that they can also trade bitcoins for that matter.
Following the announcement, Bitcoin spiked close to 4% over the last 24 hours to about $44,000.
Zavalny’s statements further strengthened President Vladimir Putin’s commitment to make “unfriendly” countries pay for gas in Russian rubles. Interestingly, after Putin’s announcement on Wednesday, European gas prices shot up predicting that Russia’s move might worsen the already affected energy market.
Reiterating President Putin’s warning, Zalvany said Western countries will have to pay in hard currency or in other alternatives that’s convenient for Russia.
Russia has taken a sharp u-turn in its views regarding Crypto after being cornered by the Western countries over its Ukraine invasion. As Ukraine has opened up to accepting Crypto donations in these hard times, Russia’s Central Bank too gave the Sberbank a licence to issue and exchange digital assets.
