[2019-01-09] Russia Plans To Ditch US Dollar For Bitcoin, Says University Profes

[ruthbabe]

A Russian university lecturer with ties to the government says the Kremlin will soon begin investing massively in Bitcoin as a way of avoiding new U.S. sanctions, a move that could happen “in a matter of weeks.”

RUSSIA TO BUY SOME ‘DIGITAL GOLD’?

Speaking exclusively to Micky, Vladislav Ginko of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration believes new U.S. sanctions will push the Kremlin into diversifying its cash reserves into Bitcoin.

Ginko who has ties with the government going back more than 20 years says the move will happen in a matter of weeks. Ginko has in recent times appeared on various Russian media platforms clamoring for the adoption of Bitcoin as a haven asset.

Commenting on the issue, Ginko said:

"US sanctions may be mitigated only through Bitcoin use. Because of US sanctions, Russia’s elite is forced to dump US assets and US dollars and invest hugely into Bitcoins. The central bank of Russia sits on $466 billion of reserves and has to diversify in case there are limited opportunities to do it (in the future)."

CUTTING DOLLAR DEPENDENCE AMID NEW U.S. SANCTIONS

Along with China, Iran, and Venezuela, Russia is exploring ways to reduce its US Dollar dependence. Back in November 2018, Russian President; Vladimir Putin, declared that in the wake of new sanctions, the country had no choice but to cut down on its use of the Dollar in international trade.

At the time, President Putin said:

"We have no goal of moving away from the Dollar. It’s the dollar that’s moving away from us. Those making such decisions are not shooting themselves in the foot, but somewhere more delicate, further up the body."

According to Ginko, the Kremlin will, beginning in February 2018, look for ways to diversify its reserves. Ginko has in recent times appeared on various Russian media platforms clamoring for the adoption of Bitcoin as a haven asset.

If the Russian government and the elite class invest massively in Bitcoin, the price of the asset could experience a sudden upward surge. Such a situation occurred in 2018 when wealthy Chinese citizens reportedly moved money into BTC in the wake of an accelerated currency devaluation by Beijing.

Meanwhile, the Kremlin has been stocking up on non-digital gold as a shield against economic sanctions. Reports indicate the government is selling U.S. government debt in exchange for the precious metal. By August 2018, Russia had already tripled its gold reserve as it gears up for renewed economic tussles with the U.S.

Such is the extent of Russia’s gold-gobbling that global gold purchasing figures reached a three-year high in November 2018. The Kremlin is also pursuing closer economic ties with China to create a new payment system independent of the Dollar.

Source:  https://bitcoinist.com/russia-ditch-usd-bitcoin-prof/

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[BurtW]

Would be nice.  But, I doubt it.

[Fanpant]

Would be nice.  But, I doubt it.

Russian government is increasing the gold reserve. But it has no plan to increase bitcoin now.

[deisik]

...

That's the most amusing thing that I read recently

Russia going to ditch the dollar? And what's next? Bitcoin, really? And what are they going to do with it, stash it or speculate on Binance? The dudes like that Ginko boy don't seem to care to build a train of plausible arguments to support their claims. How are they going to use it against sanctions exactly? What will Bitcoin offer the Russian economy, who are they going to transact with it? Maybe, China? But they are already using the Chinese Yuan for that purpose. Europe? But Europe has its own currency, called Euro last time I checked

[buwaytress]

If Russia ever wanted to do this, it would have done it a while ago already. And not just on Bitcoin, but every asset likely to perform better than the dollar. Gold. Bitcoin. Whatever.

And sanctions? With whom would Russia like to trade Bitcoins with? They've been building towards self-sufficiency for a while already and while they'd welcome liftings of sanctions, they're quite comfortable with the way things are going with economic policies. Sanctions may have slowed them down but they're getting to where they want to be, with or without Bitcoin, with or without the dollar.

[1Referee]

Russian government is increasing the gold reserve. But it has no plan to increase bitcoin now.

Most likely.

It's very difficult for such a large entity to start accumulating Bitcoin with how widely distributed the coins are. It's impossible to pump a few billion $ into Bitcoin without having it be a process that would take a year or two at the very minimum. I'm certain that they would do everything they could to make it look like it's not a government buying in, which requires proxies, funding them in a manner that doesn't pop eyes, more time, etc.

There are only like 5 million coins that are floating around, and there is a constant flow of demand that rises with every price increase we go through. Good luck trying. 

[jademaxsuy]

Probably Russia will just use digital currency to increase the power to purchase dollar for stock market exchange. In any way this could mean good to cryptocurrency and we will just hope that the constant demand will help bitcoin market price to go high. Let us just positive for the things to happen especially if bull run will going to realize.

[deisik]

If Russia ever wanted to do this, it would have done it a while ago already. And not just on Bitcoin, but every asset likely to perform better than the dollar. Gold. Bitcoin. Whatever

A while ago Russian authorities were threatening local population with criminal prosecution for just possessing cryptocurrencies while for mining them you were expected to get in jail, even though no one had actually got landed there

And sanctions? With whom would Russia like to trade Bitcoins with? They've been building towards self-sufficiency for a while already and while they'd welcome liftings of sanctions, they're quite comfortable with the way things are going with economic policies. Sanctions may have slowed them down but they're getting to where they want to be, with or without Bitcoin, with or without the dollar

It feels a little bit different

Sanctions are not for kicks, they are real, and every nation state, Russia or otherwise, should be afraid of them if it doesn't want to end up like North Korea. Slowing down may mean irreducible lagging behind economically with no chance of closing the gap in the future. As the saying goes, when you run away from a bear, you don't have to run faster than the bear. Running faster than your companions would suffice. Now reverse the saying and you will understand why sanctions can be so painful

Those who impose them understand it very well. So it is not like "they're getting to where they want to be" unless where they want to be is one giant Venezuela

[hatshepsut93]

If the Russian government and the elite class invest massively in Bitcoin, the price of the asset could experience a sudden upward surge. Such a situation occurred in 2018 when wealthy Chinese citizens reportedly moved money into BTC in the wake of an accelerated currency devaluation by Beijing.

And it absolutely didn't matter on a slightly larger scale, because we still had a bear market in 2018. Even if Russia will indeed buy BTC, the amount will be too small to cause anything bigger than a small price increase that will last a day or two. But since this is all just a baseless speculation, this "news" are practically useless.

[BitHodler]

But since this is all just a baseless speculation, this "news" are practically useless.

The good news is that this article is most likely focused on triggering a lot of noobies to click, and thus bogus. I honestly don't even want Russia (or any other country) to buy itself into Bitcoin.

The more they get involved in Bitcoin, the more incentive there is for them to practice force upon the developers or miners, which is the last thing we want to happen. Better safe than sorry they say, I agree with that.

Let governments pile up on gold and leave Bitcoin alone, which I think they are doing already and will continue to do in the future. Governments are toxic. Everything they touch turns into a pile of garbage....

[Ozero]

It is quite possible that this is already happening. To avoid international sanctions using Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency, the government does not need to make this public. On the contrary, it should be kept secret, then the effect of this will be greater. As for the statements about Putin, he cannot be trusted in ordinary matters, he lies at every step. Moreover, he will lie if he deals with such a delicate issue as evading international sanctions.

[IconFirm]

You guys don't actually believe this rubbish do you?

[Slow death]

A Russian university lecturer with ties to the government says the Kremlin will soon begin investing massively in Bitcoin as a way of avoiding new U.S. sanctions, a move that could happen “in a matter of weeks.”

I wonder why the hell still take seriously what comes from Russia about bitcoin? How many times have we heard things like these come from Russia and never saw anything in practice?

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Russian Regulator Tells Financial Action Task Force Members To Control Crypto Circulation

nothing good is expected coming from russia

[IconFirm]

I've had to put the OP on ignore, she/he posts too much complete nonsense as "news".

[Theb]

I won't be surprised if they already have stocked up their pile of Bitcoin and really have the ulterior motive to short the US Dollar and its related assets. They have a strong statement here one could affect USA's fiat currency, I think they are purposely doing this now in order to bring the price down for USD. Their best economic move now is to sell Bitcoin while it is rallying upwards and buyback the USD when it had already fallen at a later date.