Russian Government to Use Stablecoins for International Settlements with Allies

Recent reports show that the Russian government is planning to work with allied nations on creating payment channels for cross-border settlements involving Stablecoins. The latest development came from Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev, as quoted by the Tass news agency.

Moiseev explained: “We are currently working with a number of countries to create bilateral platforms in order not to use dollars and euros,” adding that Moscow wants to use “mutually acceptable tokenized instruments” on these platforms.

The government official further explained that the “Stablecoins can be pegged to some generally recognized instrument, for example, gold, the value of which is clear and observable for all participants.”

The latest comments from the Moscow official on September 6 come after other Russian media reports showed that the Finance Ministry and the Central Bank of Russia had reached an agreement that for Russia, “it is impossible to do without cross-border settlements in cryptocurrency” given the current dynamics at play.

Russian Economy Under Pressure Amid Mounting Sanctions

Russia has come under intense pressure as the West continues to mount sanctions and restrictions over its decision to invade Ukraine in late February. These restrictions have seen the European giant lose access to the global financial system, putting it in a precarious position. As such, the idea of using cryptocurrencies and Stablecoins as a bypass to the restrictions has become popular among many government officials and regulators.

That said, the CBR has asserted, time and again, that the agreement to use Stablecoins does not translate to the legalization of crypto payment and exchange operations within the country. Earlier this year, CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina admitted that crypto assets could be used as payments provided they do not “penetrate” the nation’s financial system.

Introduced in January 2021, the law “On Digital Financial Assets” only addresses some aspects of the matter of crypto use within Russia. As such, Russian lawmakers are expected to review a new bill, “On Digital Currency,” in the coming months.