Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, says that while cryptocurrencies have “value”, it is still too premature to use crypto for energy trading. So says the Russian president in an interview with CNBC on October 14 after the Russian Energy Week forum:
Russia’s Putin says crypto has ‘value’ — but maybe not for trading oil https://t.co/QJihd1c2wM
— CNBC (@CNBC) October 14, 2021
Energy crisis Europe and the US dollar
Putin spoke mainly about the energy crisis in Europe. Russia is criticized for using energy as a “weapon” against Europe. Putin denies this and says that the blame for the energy shortage lies with Europe itself.
Earlier, the Russian government hinted that it may want to move away from the US dollar in international contracts with commodities. The US government uses the dollar in its sanctions against Russia. Putin, however, denies that Russia will stop using the dollar:
“The dollar provides competitive advantage. It is a universal reserve currency and the United States today uses it to pursue political goals. We are not interested in abolishing dollar payments completely, and so far we are satisfied with payments for energy resources in dollars, mainly for oil.”
Crypto for oil?
When asked whether Russia is considering using crypto like bitcoin (BTC) for energy trading, Putin says it’s too early for that:
“Cryptocurrency oil contracts? It’s too early to talk about it. It works to transfer money from one place to another, but in terms of trade, especially when it comes to energy resources, it’s too premature in my opinion.”
Putin is then asked whether he considers the crypto of people like Tesla CEO Elon Musk worthless. He denies that and states that he only questions crypto as a unit of account in the buying and selling of oil.
Putin says that while crypto can “act as a unit of account,” they are still “very unstable.” He reports that the Russian government keeps a close eye on crypto and that “everything evolves and everything has a right to exist”.
Recently, Russia’s deputy finance minister announced that the country will not ban crypto trading as China recently did.
