• Russia’s central bank said they would create special organizations responsible for the mining of cryptocurrencies and processing payments for cross-border trade deals.
• Russia is also looking to use public cryptocurrencies for international trade settlement but would ban its use within the state.

As Russia faces strong sanctions from the West after its Ukraine invasion, it is now exploring options to benefit from the use of cryptocurrencies and their related activities. As per the latest development, Russia’s central bank aka Bank of Russia is currently working on a bill to introduce “an experimental legal regime” for digital assets for international trade such as import-export deals.

Russia’s popular news agency TASS reported the development earlier this week citing the announcement from the Bank of Russia’s head of the regulatory agency, Elvira Naiullina. Addressing the parliamentary faction of the “New People” political party on Monday, Nabuillina said that the central bank’s plans include the creation of special organizations responsible for the mining of cryptocurrencies and processing payments for cross-border trade deals.

However, the structure of these organizations isn’t clear as of now. One of Russia’s largest crypto mining firms BitRiver had previously partnered with state-affiliated oil company Gazpromneft.

Bank of Russia governor Elvira Naiullina also added that digital assets issued inside Russia, as per the local laws passed in 2020, shall also be used in cross-border deals at par with the global decentralized digital assets. Naliullina’s deputy, Alexey Guznov stated that the central bank is currently in discussions with the government over defining the kind of organizations that can participate in the experiment.

The central bank is likely to provide more clarity on what their business models should look like and what banks will the organizations be using. During the early stages of the experiment, it is more likely that they would be government-sponsored companies.

Will Russia’s Crypto Bet Pay Off?

As we know, Russia is facing tough sanctions from the West which limits its ability to do business with global trading partners. Amid the continued sanctions, Russia is looking for alternate forms of payment to continue trading with its international partners.

Both – Russia’s Ministry of Finance and the central bank have come to the conclusion that they cannot avoid the use of crypto payments in the current situation, as they have been ousted from the U.S. dollar-powered global payment infrastructure.

As a result, the Bank of Russia is also considering the use of public cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum for international settlements. However, the central bank plans to use these assets only for global settlements but will ban them for use within the state.

It’s too early to say whether Russia’s crypto bet could pay off or not. Some big players that G20 economies offer to transact in billions of dollars in trade size every day and the $1 trillion crypto market is too small to cater to the liquidity demands.