Odaily News Russia is using cryptocurrencies to settle oil trades with India to circumvent Western sanctions, according to four people familiar with the matter, a move that marks a further expansion of Moscow’s use of digital currencies for international trade.
Although Russia passed legislation last year to allow the use of cryptocurrencies for international trade, there have been no reports of its actual use in oil trade. Sources said some Russian oil companies are using crypto assets such as Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH) and Tether (USDT) to facilitate the exchange of Indian rupees and Russian rubles.
According to data from the International Energy Agency (IEA), Russia's total oil trade will reach $192 billion in 2023, of which cryptocurrency transactions still account for a small proportion, but are showing an upward trend. The encrypted payment model has previously been adopted by sanctioned countries such as Iran and Venezuela to circumvent the dominance of the US dollar in the global oil market. (Jinshi)