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Original Title: Russia Has Legalised Cryptocurrencies. Will this help the russians evade western sanctions?
Author: Yaroslav Vinokurov, Ukrainska Pravda, Compilation: 0xjs@作 作 作 作 作 作
There is only a line between love and hate, especially when it comes to the Russian government’s attitude towards cryptocurrencies.
Russia’s governor Elvira Nabiullina said in December 2021: “We cannot welcome investment in such assets. We believe that Russia’s financial infrastructure should not be used for cryptocurrency transactions.”
In July 2024, she said exactly the opposite: “We expect the first cryptocurrency payment will be completed by the end of this year.”
The Kremlin initially regarded cryptocurrencies as a threat.They were originally created to replace the traditional financial system, so for regime, they look like an unprepared tool.
However, the Western world now specifies Russia as countries that support terrorism, and cryptocurrencies have become one of the last way to ensure export and import contract payment.
In the summer of 2024, the Russian State Duma (Russian Parliament’s lower house) will legalize cryptocurrencies and cryptocurrencies.The Kremlin has no concealment of this fact. This is the consequences of sanctions since the end of 2023. Sanctions make trade between Russia and friendly countries difficult.Can cryptocurrencies save the Russian economy?
Forced to find a way to change the way
In 2024, Russia’s foreign trade began to decline due to the problem of international settlement under export and import contracts.Foreign banks have refused to accept payments from Russia because they are worried about the second -level sanctions of the United States.
The National Bank of Ukraine, which participated in the formulation of Russian sanctions policies, stated: “Paying with US dollars and euro payment is vulnerable to sanctions. Almost every day, banks in China, Turkey and the UAE are being postponed or returned to certain categories of products and services.Payment confirms the difficulties encountered in Russia in traditional payment channels. “
This problem has become so common, so that Russian President Vladimir Putin specially dedicated to solving this problem in May this year, “ensuring that the trade between the two sides is not negatively affected by the third country.”
However, the situation of Russian companies has not improved since then. Perhaps the only positive economic impact brought by Putin’s visit to China is simplifying the exports of Russian cow cartilage and ginger to China.
As a result, Russia’s imports in the first half of 2024 were one -third lower than Russian analysts expected.According to their calculations, the import volume should have increased by 13%, but it actually decreased by 14%compared with the same period in 2023.
Payment issues promote Russian companies to find a way to change.Some companies have begun trade payment through intermediary agencies registered in “friendly” countries such as Serbia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.But this is not helpful, because the trade party becomes more cautious when reaching a reconciliation with the jurisdiction of judicial jurisdictions suspected of evading sanctions.
Another option is to pay through the Shanghai Branch of Russia Foreign Trade Bank.However, because the bank cannot deal with a large number of customers who want to trade through it, the waiting list for opening an account in the Shanghai Branch of Foreign Trade Bank has been several months.
In addition to inconvenience, the method of changing is needed for additional money and time, and it cannot guarantee success.Many companies are disappointed with the traditional financial system and are looking for unconventional payment methods.For example, merchants are using transient trade to trade with India and use petroleum products for aluminum.
Cryptocurrencies have become popular.The Russian authorities have decided to expand and develop this way nationwide.
Use encryption to transaction
Vice Chairman of the Russian Central Bank, Vladimir Chisqinxin, said in July 2024: “If the non -popular payment mechanism is not developed under sanctions, the export -oriented economy may perish.”
Cryptocurrency -Russia’s central bank wanted to ban it two and a half years ago -now it has become one of these mechanisms.In the summer of 2024, National Duma passed two laws to legalize cryptocurrencies in Russia.
The first law legalized cryptocurrency mining. In fact, Russia did not prohibit cryptocurrency mining before the new law passed.Since November 1, cryptocurrency mining will be officially included in Russia’s regulatory framework.The law stipulates the requirements of the personnel involved in mining, requiring them to register with the Digital Transformation Department, and provide information about the cryptocurrency of their mining to the Russian Federal Financial Supervision Bureau.
The second law legalize the circulation of encrypted assets, making Russia one of the few judicial jurisdictions in the world that recognizes cryptocurrencies at the national level.However, unlike Salvador and other countries that have regarded Bitcoin as official currencies, Russia will not accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method.
The Kremlin is allowed to use cryptocurrencies for settlement for cross -border transactions.
Cryptocurrencies have previously used these transactions, but they are just informal.”Customs will now be able to identify these payments: the company will be able to prove that the goods are paid with cryptocurrencies,” said Vladyslav VLasiuk, a Subjector Specialist of Ukrainian sanctions.
Russia’s cryptocurrency payment is currently mediated by the agent: Russian importers transfer the rubles to the agent, the agent purchases cryptocarnically assets from the exchange operator and pays the consignee.
Russians usually use stable currency (tokens linked to traditional currencies such as the US dollar) for such transactions.USDT and USDC are the most popular stablecoins.VLASIUK said that they are the core of the Kremlin’s legalization of cryptocurrencies.
Use the Middle Chamber of Commerce to increase the cost of cryptocurrency transactions of Russian importers.This is also one of the reasons why cryptocurrency payments have not yet provided Russians with a feasible alternative to the Russians, although there is difficult to use the banking system with US dollars or euro payment.The legalization of cryptocurrencies should make cryptocurrency pay cheaper and easier -at least theoretically.
How does it work?
There is very little information about how to operate cryptocurrencies in Russia: new laws do not set requirements for those who want to use cryptocurrencies.The Russian country Duma has instructed the central Russian central bank to draft the rules of supervision of cryptocurrency transactions.The bank is actually entrusted to design the crypto currency trading system and drafted the management payment process and the rules of the parties to the transaction.
As early as 2021, Elvira Nabiullina, the president of the Russian Bank of Russia, was suspicious of the legalization of cryptocurrencies, but in the past three years, Russia has changed a lot.
The Central Bank of Russia will be able to establish an experimental legal system (ELR) in various areas of the economy, and selects participants and clarify its role.ELR participants will not be subject to some Russian federal laws.
Cross -border transactions are expected to be performed within ELR of the financial market.The central bank will also create ELR for organizational cryptocurrency transactions.Russia may establish an official cryptocurrency exchange, or a cryptocurrency transaction right is granted to existing exchanges.The Moscow Stock Exchange, Russia’s largest exchange, refused to participate in the experiment.
Central Bank of Russia must also integrate cryptocurrency payment with the national payment system. The system consists of a national payment card system, a fast payment system, a central bank payment system, deposit system, and financial information system.
The Russian central bank may achieve the first cross -border cryptocurrency payment by the end of 2024.But to achieve this goal, Russia must not only design appropriate technical systems, but also understand where and how to obtain enough cryptocurrency to serve billions of dollars in foreign trade turnover.
Can this avoid sanctions?
If Russia uses cryptocurrencies to bypass the Western financial system, it will be successful, then it is not enough to legalize the encryption payment alone in Russia.Its trade partners must also accept such payments, which may still be difficult.
For example, in China, cryptocurrencies have been banned since 2021.(The ban is not applicable to Hong Kong.) In order to use cryptocurrencies in the transaction with Russia’s largest trading partner, Moscow will have to use a series of intermediary agencies, which will make the transaction cost higher.
Other BRICS partners in Russia -Brazil, India and South Africa -it seems that they are not in a hurry to legalize cryptocurrencies, even for international payment.
The cryptocurrency market is no longer a field that is completely non -ruled or government supervision.The cryptocurrency exchanges operate in accordance with financial monitoring standards and must abide by Western sanctions to avoid secondary restrictions.
Ukraine cryptocurrency analysts believe that Russia’s new plan is essentially moving stones and smashing their feet.Cryptocurrency transactions may make the Western government more likely to expand the scope of sanctions.
“It is easy for all participants to track the blockchain exchange because they are recorded in the blocks. Many companies around the world can analyze these things. Once Russian companies begin to use cryptocurrencies, they will be easy to find their opponents to find their opponents.Many, “said Nataliia Drik, president of the Ukrainian Blockchain Association.
also,The use of stable coins in international trade will make Russian companies more vulnerable to further restrictionsThis seems inevitable.
The National Bank of Ukraine stated: “Participants of the Personal (especially the Russian Central Bank cryptocurrency pilot project) and new areas of (Russian economy) will increase.The currency market, and according to several news surveys, this is the cryptocurrency used by Russian companies to settle. “
