Bitcoin Forum

Russia is open to accepting bitcoin for its natural resources exports, the chairman of the country’s Congressional energy committee, Pavel Zavalny, said in a press conference on Thursday.

Zavalny explained that Russia is open to accepting different currencies for its exports, beginning with natural gas, depending on the buyer’s preferred method of payment. However, the chairman said terms will depend on the importing country’s foreign relations status with Russia.

“When it comes to our ‘friendly’ countries, like China or Turkey, which don’t pressure us, then we have been offering them for a while to switch payments to national currencies, like rubles and yuan,” Zavalny said during the press conference. “With Turkey, it can be lira and rubles. So there can be a variety of currencies, and that’s a standard practice. If they want bitcoin, we will trade in bitcoin.”

Zavalny’s statement comes on the heels of President Vladimir Putin’s comments on Wednesday demanding that ‘unfriendly’ countries pay for Russian gas in rubles. Putin’s message was clear, but it is unclear whether Russia can unilaterally change existing contracts agreed upon in euros.

The State Duma’s energy committee chair echoed Putin’s decision while adding that the country should also accept gold.

“When we exchange with Western countries…they should pay in hard money,” Zavalny said. “And hard money is gold, or they must pay in currencies which are convenient for us, and that is the national currency – ruble. That relates to our ‘unfriendly’ countries.”

Russia being open to accepting bitcoin shift the tide as Putin last year had dismissed the possibility in an interview at the Russian Energy Week event in Moscow.

“I believe that it has value,” Putin said at the time, referring to Bitcoin. “But I don’t believe it can be used in the oil trade.”

The current size of the Bitcoin market and its liquidity do pose questions as to whether the peer-to-peer currency could be used widely by countries in international trade at this moment.

However, by being open to the possibility and eventually conducting pilot trades with interested parties, Russia could set the stage for an upcoming trend where nations choose to transact in the stateless, global monetary system.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/markets/russia-open-to-sell-gas-for-bitcoin

Today it seems russia is prepared to sell natural gas and oil in bitcoin. Could this signal the beginning of a petro bitcoin?

If russia sold oil in exchange for BTC could this represent yet another major step towards cryptocurrency mass adoption? Will other world leaders view these announcements as a trend for the future.

....

If russia sold oil in exchange for BTC could this represent yet another major step towards cryptocurrency mass adoption? Will other world leaders view these announcements as a trend for the future.

In 2018, china announced it would denominate oil transactions in its native currency, the yuan. At which time, people referred to it as the petro yuan. China also initially announced it would offer yuan exchange for gold, to setup something resembling a gold standard. Unfortunately, this aspect of the announcement never materialized.

Today it seems russia is prepared to sell natural gas and oil in bitcoin. Could this signal the beginning of a petro bitcoin? Russia also seems to be offering to sell its natural resources in exchange for precious metals like gold. A move which precious metals supporters who have long called for a return to a gold standard might approve of.

It really could be. Russia is trying to get away from paying for gas for dollars as much as possible. I think these are extreme measures that Russia will take. It is more likely that the payment will be in rubles, because then Russia will strengthen its ruble. Of course, if bitcoin becomes a currency for paying for gas and oil, then this will greatly increase the rate of bitcoin, I'm really looking forward to it!

I am not sure why we connecting all the dots to main stream adoption? Have anyone not seen the other side of the Russia yet? They are tangled up in hundreds of sanctions and they are mostly related to banning import export, businesses, currency exchanges, economical interference etc so that Russia can crush inside out to stop the war and to stop us from going into world war.

Russia is simply throwing bitcoin card because they are running out of money tbh. They want to sell the oil in anyways possible.

I would love to see this as mainstream adoption but I don’t think Russia is in the position of doing same.

Who exactly will pay in BTC? The West won't use anything other their own currency. China and India are openly anti-Bitcoin. This leaves only a bunch of economically smaller countries, so even if such transactions will happen, it will be purely symbolic, rather than representing a trend shift.

Bitcoin can also be a large cybersecurity risk. We see Anonymous, or whomever operates under that name, hacking Russian government and involved private companies left and right, now imagine if they hack Russian BTC wallets and drain them? And before you say "cold storage", remember that the US successfully used airgap-jumping malware against Iran in the past.

Maybe this explains the current surge in price of Bitcoin, I saw it on local news that Russia is accepting payments through bitcoin for it's oil. This is adoption and it will be just a matter of time when other countries follows this especially for those who rely on Russian oil. A petro BTC is probably possible, in this step they have made, they are showing that they are acknowledging the crypto currencies potentials and we are just seeing the initiative here, may will be expecting more to come.

Today it seems russia is prepared to sell natural gas and oil in bitcoin. Could this signal the beginning of a petro bitcoin?

If russia sold oil in exchange for BTC could this represent yet another major step towards cryptocurrency mass adoption? Will other world leaders view these announcements as a trend for the future.

When the US dollar was used to buy and sell oil on a global scale, it was referred to as the petro dollar in this role. In 2018, china announced it would denominate oil transactions in its native currency, the yuan. At which time, people referred to it as the petro yuan. China also initially announced it would offer yuan exchange for gold, to setup something resembling a gold standard. Unfortunately, this aspect of the announcement never materialized.

Today it seems russia is prepared to sell natural gas and oil in bitcoin. Could this signal the beginning of a petro bitcoin? Russia also seems to be offering to sell its natural resources in exchange for precious metals like gold. A move which precious metals supporters who have long called for a return to a gold standard might approve of.

If russia sold oil in exchange for BTC could this represent yet another major step towards cryptocurrency mass adoption? Will other world leaders view these announcements as a trend for the future.

Translation: Putin's aggression has weakened the ruble to a ridiculous point.

In 2008, Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Georgia. This invasion and resulting sanctions resulted in a 37.1% drop in the value of the Rubble vs. the U.S. Dollar. In 2014, Russia invaded the sovereign nation of Ukraine. The resulting international sanctions resulted in a 60.55% reduction in the value of the Rubble against the U.S. Dollar. This is likely just the beginning of the pain instore for the Rubble over the latest Russian invasion of the sovereign nation of Ukraine.

Can you imagine what will happen with the price of Bitcoin, if Russia start to accept bitcoins as a currency to pay for their oil and gas?

Russia is the first to trade petrol in bitcoin,  I think it is nice and other countries will adopt this style of bitcoin. This is the beginning to see bitcoin as the world currency  which is more superior than the dollar.  This will make people to believe in Bitcoin more.

...If russia sold oil in exchange for BTC could this represent yet another major step towards cryptocurrency mass adoption? Will other world leaders view these announcements as a trend for the future.

Refusal of foreign exchange earnings will drive Russia into the Stone Age very quickly, because. they do not have their own production or technologies, and there are no other options to get them except by buying from the West.

I am not aware of how dependent Russia is on Western technology, but even if the West lowers the Iron Curtain and no longer trades with Russia, will they not try to circumvent those sanctions through China and India? And these two countries are certainly to some extent dependent on the West, and somehow I do not believe that the same West can afford to impose sanctions on them.

According to media reports, Lavrov went on visits to China and India, where talks are not about time and football, but about how to resist Western pressures and continue doing business as before. Therefore, it seems to me that Russia will find a way to get what it needs, in one way or another.

If we look at how new sanctions are being imposed against Russia, we will see that the EU countries are considering the possibility of imposing an embargo on oil supplied by Russia. And if the oil embargo is eventually imposed, then there can be no question of any sale of oil for BTC.

Sooner or later Europe will not resist anything, they need oil, they need gas, Europe is made up of consumerist countries, just like the USA they need their resources and for them it is everything, so will these countries stop having a good life for another? I really doubt it and I'm sure it won't be like that, the USA already did it, we mustn't forget that it sought out Venezuela to benefit from OIL, etnocs the need translates into doing whatever is necessary to avoid going through bad times. We cannot forget that France already has problems with cooking oil, and the country that exports the most is Argentina and they closed exports, this undoubtedly generates the greatest shortage that can be recorded over time, so despair will not be for RUSSIA, despair will be for Europe and USA.

I am not aware of how dependent Russia is on Western technology, but even if the West lowers the Iron Curtain and no longer trades with Russia, will they not try to circumvent those sanctions through China and India? And these two countries are certainly to some extent dependent on the West, and somehow I do not believe that the same West can afford to impose sanctions on them.

According to media reports, Lavrov went on visits to China and India, where talks are not about time and football, but about how to resist Western pressures and continue doing business as before. Therefore, it seems to me that Russia will find a way to get what it needs, in one way or another.