Russian President Vladimir Putin commented on the cryptoasset market in a recent interview with CNBC. In addition to talking about geopolitics and energy, he stated that the crypto sector “has the right to exist”.
Putin mentioned the crypto market during a question about using alternative currencies to the U.S. dollar in the international oil trade. He commented that it is “still premature” to think about using cryptoasset currencies for oil trade, stating that cryptoassets are only for transferring value.
“It’s too early to talk about that because the cryptocurrency, of course, can be a unit of account, but it’s precarious. To transfer funds from one place to another, yes, but trading energy resources, in my opinion, is still premature”.
Although Russia’s president stated that it is still early to negotiate cryptoassets contracts in oil trading, he acknowledged that digital currencies might soon be used as means of payment in the financial market.
“Everything develops, everything has the right to exist. We’ll see how it goes later, maybe one day it’ll also be a means of payment. We’ll see how this market floats. It’s still a little early today”.
Before Putin’s statement, Russia’s Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev said the country has no intention of prohibiting the purchase of cryptoassets through international exchanges.
“For sure, a Russian citizen can have an open wallet outside the Russian Federation, but it is operations within the Russian Federation that will be subject to prohibitions”.
Vladimir Putin and Alexei Moiseev’s stance on crypto-activities departs from the prohibitionist policy put forward by China regarding the crypto market. Recently, the People’s Bank of China issued a statement restricting the use of cryptoassets and condemning mining activity on Chinese territory.
