Putin thinks it is “too early” to use crypto payments for oil trading
Russian President Vladimir Putin has recently said he believes that it is still “premature” using cryptocurrencies for settling transactions regarding energy resources like oil.
The Russian President has also discussed potential usages of crypto tokens in an interview with CNBC on October 14, where he was speaking at the Russian Energy Week forum’s plenary session.
According to an interview with Kremlin’s official website, the interview featuring Putin said that the private cryptocurrencies would be able to act “as a unit of account,” but they are “very unstable.”
When asked about crypto oil contracts, Putin said it is “too early” to talk about it. Although the system works for transferring funds from one place to another, it can work for trading but not for energy resources as it is “premature.”
Putin further continued that everything has its timeline of evolution and “has the right to exist”, adding the government is monitoring the crypto market closely.
He also mentioned that there is a possibility that at some point, cryptocurrency would become a “means of accumulation” as fluctuation continues in the market.
Putin has also said that crypto is “not backed by anything yet.” When asked about his opinion on the CEO of Tesla, Elon Musk’s crypto holdings are worthless or not, Putin said “no”, explaining that he had only questioned crypto as a unit of account in the context of energy trade.
The Russian President also claimed that the US dollar “undermines its position” as an international reserve asset. He said that the Russian government is not interested in cutting off any dollar payments and that, of yet, they are “satisfied” with payments in dollars concerning energy resources, primarily oil.
The news has come when Russian authorities are considering a new law for limiting crypto investments by non-accredited investors. Before this, the Russian central bank had been planning to slow down transactions in cryptocurrency exchanges for protecting retail investors from “emotional” purchases of digital assets.
