Russia can evade sanction through cryptocurrencies

[Wind_FURY]

They have. Currently their Crude Oil is sold to India for very cheap and discounted prices, then India sells them to Europe, China, and anywhere where it's needed. Because India took the risk, they're making billions from Russian Oil trades. I believe India is using the Ruble for their trades with Russia because they can't use the U.S. Dollar.

If that fails, they could use Gold. But if THAT fails, they could use - ?

If all else fails, sanctioned countries could use Bitcoin. It's said that some government officials from sanctioned countries are already using the cryptocurrency. They could easily buy/sell BTC in a P2P/F2F manner. This allows them to skip centralized exchanges (which are compliant with sanctions) altogether. If Bitcoin was centralized, none of this would've been possible.

Sanctions are just an spectacle from the West. Eventually, western countries will "shake hands" with Russia as if nothing ever happened. That's the hipocrisy of politics. The ones who ultimately pay the price are none other than civilians themselves. Who knows what will happen in the long run?

And once they truly understand Bitcoin's value-proposition, its nature, and therefore its POWER, they might buy as much Bitcoin as they can afford. It will be like that time when merchants and purchasers of the Dark Markets discovered that what they needed was Bitcoin during 2011 but for different nations/governments.

It could start the "Bitcoin Race".

[Sithara007]

As long as China and India are not very keen to join the sanctions regime, it is going to fail (with or without the involvement of cryptocurrency). The NATO bloc imposed a $60 cap on Russian crude oil. What happened to that? Discounts on Russian crude has dropped to $3-$6 per barrel from the level of around $30 per barrel a few months back. And at the battle field, Russia has been making constant territorial gains for the last 7-8 months. As of now, Russia controls 58.51% of Donetsk, 98.31% of Lugansk and 2.50% of Kharkiv.

[legendbtc]

They have. Currently their Crude Oil is sold to India for very cheap and discounted prices, then India sells them to Europe, China, and anywhere where it's needed. Because India took the risk, they're making billions from Russian Oil trades. I believe India is using the Ruble for their trades with Russia because they can't use the U.S. Dollar.

If that fails, they could use Gold. But if THAT fails, they could use - ?

If all else fails, sanctioned countries could use Bitcoin. It's said that some government officials from sanctioned countries are already using the cryptocurrency. They could easily buy/sell BTC in a P2P/F2F manner. This allows them to skip centralized exchanges (which are compliant with sanctions) altogether. If Bitcoin was centralized, none of this would've been possible.

Sanctions are just an spectacle from the West. Eventually, western countries will "shake hands" with Russia as if nothing ever happened. That's the hipocrisy of politics. The ones who ultimately pay the price are none other than civilians themselves. Who knows what will happen in the long run?

Everyone must have missed the latest news related to this.

Recently: Russia has allowed cryptocurrency payments in international trade transactions to combat sanctions from the US and EU. The bill is expected to take effect starting September this year, and with the introduction of cryptocurrencies into international trade payments, this will make US and EU sanctions packages even more useless. 
https://www.reuters.com/technology/russia-launch-international-payments-crypto-before-end-2024-2024-07-30/


Not to mention, even more interesting news is that right after the news that Russia will use cryptocurrency in international trade payments. El Salvador immediately proposed using cryptocurrency as an alternative payment method in international trade payments with Russia.
https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-diplomat-el-salvador-proposes-settling-trade-with-crypto/

[dansus021]

As long as China and India are not very keen to join the sanctions regime, it is going to fail (with or without the involvement of cryptocurrency). The NATO bloc imposed a $60 cap on Russian crude oil. What happened to that? Discounts on Russian crude has dropped to $3-$6 per barrel from the level of around $30 per barrel a few months back. And at the battle field, Russia has been making constant territorial gains for the last 7-8 months. As of now, Russia controls 58.51% of Donetsk, 98.31% of Lugansk and 2.50% of Kharkiv.

I don't like war but Im get your point I mean Russia with or without the sanction the basically can still live freely All the major brand like car and clothes from Europe and America are leaving but it is become a gold rush for other country like China and I do believe that China and India or other asia country gonna join the sanction game because for Asia Russia is big market to farmed on.

I just watched a video from a journalist on youtube that US and Europe still buy oil from Russia through proxy companies and because the oil get discounted other Asia countries see this as an opportunity to buy more.

[Wind_FURY]

As long as China and India are not very keen to join the sanctions regime, it is going to fail (with or without the involvement of cryptocurrency). The NATO bloc imposed a $60 cap on Russian crude oil. What happened to that? Discounts on Russian crude has dropped to $3-$6 per barrel from the level of around $30 per barrel a few months back. And at the battle field, Russia has been making constant territorial gains for the last 7-8 months. As of now, Russia controls 58.51% of Donetsk, 98.31% of Lugansk and 2.50% of Kharkiv.

Russia's Crude Oil is selling for a 50% discount compared to the spot market? 🤔

If Russia wants to sell their Crude Oil for more fiat value, they could take a few extra steps and export them "digitally" through the Bitcoin ecosystem.

They probably could also do it somewhere in Siberia. Less cooling required = less cost.

[Abiky]

Everyone must have missed the latest news related to this.

Recently: Russia has allowed cryptocurrency payments in international trade transactions to combat sanctions from the US and EU. The bill is expected to take effect starting September this year, and with the introduction of cryptocurrencies into international trade payments, this will make US and EU sanctions packages even more useless. 
https://www.reuters.com/technology/russia-launch-international-payments-crypto-before-end-2024-2024-07-30/

Not to mention, even more interesting news is that right after the news that Russia will use cryptocurrency in international trade payments. El Salvador immediately proposed using cryptocurrency as an alternative payment method in international trade payments with Russia.
https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-diplomat-el-salvador-proposes-settling-trade-with-crypto/

Now it's official. But I think Russia was doing this way before to circumvent sanctions. I'm guessing now that the Russian government made this move, the US will further regulate the industry? This means more restrictions/limitations to crypto users and companies. Governments always win. Sanctions would've had effect against Russia if the West targeted its oil industry. I mean preventing Russia from selling oil to any country.

If Bitcoin didn't exist, it would've been difficult (if not impossible) to circumvent sanctions. Now the world will get more polarized, as we approach a global conflict (WW3?). May God have mercy on our souls.

[pooya87]

Russia's Crude Oil is selling for a 50% discount compared to the spot market? 🤔

Nobody knows how much discount the Russians is giving on their oil sale. Those who claim they know a number are full of it
Also in a world where there is more demand for oil that there is supply (due to production cuts in OPEC) they definitely don't have to give such a huge discount to sell something the world is starving for...

[legendbtc]

Everyone must have missed the latest news related to this.

Recently: Russia has allowed cryptocurrency payments in international trade transactions to combat sanctions from the US and EU. The bill is expected to take effect starting September this year, and with the introduction of cryptocurrencies into international trade payments, this will make US and EU sanctions packages even more useless. 
https://www.reuters.com/technology/russia-launch-international-payments-crypto-before-end-2024-2024-07-30/

Not to mention, even more interesting news is that right after the news that Russia will use cryptocurrency in international trade payments. El Salvador immediately proposed using cryptocurrency as an alternative payment method in international trade payments with Russia.
https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-diplomat-el-salvador-proposes-settling-trade-with-crypto/

Now it's official. But I think Russia was doing this way before to circumvent sanctions. I'm guessing now that the Russian government made this move, the US will further regulate the industry? This means more restrictions/limitations to crypto users and companies. Governments always win. Sanctions would've had effect against Russia if the West targeted its oil industry. I mean preventing Russia from selling oil to any country.

If Bitcoin didn't exist, it would've been difficult (if not impossible) to circumvent sanctions. Now the world will get more polarized, as we approach a global conflict (WW3?). May God have mercy on our souls.

As I recall, this idea was proposed shortly after Europe imposed sanctions on Russia in the early days of the war but in the end it was not adopted. Everything was just proposed again and they had to wait until September this year to start adopting cryptocurrencies for their international trade payments.

How does NATO prevent Russia from selling oil to other countries, especially China and India? Both of these countries are members of BRICS, not the NATO alliance. In addition, where will EU countries get their oil supplies if they target Russia's oil industry directly when they buy Russian oil from India?  . If they could stop Russia from selling oil to other countries, they would have done it a long time ago, there is no need to wait until now.

So far, punishing Russia has been a disastrous failure for the EU as they have launched the 14th sanctions package but still cannot stop the war between Russia and Ukraine.

[YOSHIE]

What is your take? What role can cryptocurrencies play in helping Russia sanctions evasion and to what extent can this be?

Whatever is planned, all decisions are in the hands of Vladimir Putin, he has the right to decide whether to ban cryptocurrencies in Russia or not, after all, Putin has said that crypto miners are profitable for his country/Russia.

We have often seen superpowers threaten the growth and development of Bitcoin, but Bitcoin still runs as usual, let alone the chatter of central banks, maybe we are fed up with the nonsense of central banks they always make rules that threaten the growth of crypto, but the fact that we see they can't do anything other than they only talk about their own benefits, I have never seen a mysterious thing that can be handled and resolved in court, mysterious remains mysterious until the end of the world, unless the internet disappears on this earth, believe it or not there is not a single authority that can impose sanctions on crypto, period.

[Abiky]

There is a contradictory analysis of "Cryptocurrency will not save Russia from sanctions" and I kind of agree with that.
The vice prime minister of Ukraine is also trying to maximize global economic sanctions against Russia in various ways, including efforts to identifying the crypto addresses of Russian politicians that may be a loophole to avoid sanctions.

Ukrainian crypto community is ready to provide a generous reward for any information about crypto-wallets of Russian and Belarusian politicians and their surroundings. War crimes must be pursued and punished!

Certain blockchain explorers can unilaterally flag suspicious addresses.

I fail to see how that would work against privacy-oriented cryptocurrencies. What's stopping Russia from using coins like Monero or Grin to hide its financial activities? Mr. Putin is not that stupid. This is like a "cat and mouse" game. Hard to believe Russia's economy will cripple at this stage. The government will fully embrace crypto to trade with its allies. Russia, China, India, and a handful of other countries will be using crypto as a "money transfer tool" to circumvent sanctions.

If crypto was centralized, it would've been an entirely different story. The West would've been able to cripple down Russia's operations with ease. But that's not case, leaving us wonder how long will Ukraine be able to resist Russia. I fear the war is coming to an end (but not in a good way). All eyes are in the US' upcoming elections in November. Whoever wins, will determine the future of both Russia and Ukraine. Lets hope for the best.

[Wind_FURY]

Russia's Crude Oil is selling for a 50% discount compared to the spot market? 🤔

Nobody knows how much discount the Russians is giving on their oil sale. Those who claim they know a number are full of it

Also in a world where there is more demand for oil that there is supply (due to production cuts in OPEC) they definitely don't have to give such a huge discount to sell something the world is starving for...

I misunderstood what he said. He was posting about the actual discount from the current prices in the world market, which is merely $3.00 - $6.00 less right now compared to a very big discount of $30.00 a few months back. That's definitely a good recovery for the Russian Crude Oil market.

Because of production cuts from OPEC, the United States should change their policy and start drilling the "Black Gold" from under their feet. North America is one of the richest regions in Crude Oil.

[Ozero]

If crypto was centralized, it would've been an entirely different story. The West would've been able to cripple down Russia's operations with ease. But that's not case, leaving us wonder how long will Ukraine be able to resist Russia. I fear the war is coming to an end (but not in a good way). All eyes are in the US' upcoming elections in November. Whoever wins, will determine the future of both Russia and Ukraine. Lets hope for the best.

Now in Russia’s war against Ukraine, grandiose, stunning events are taking place that could end disastrously for Russia. Russia threw all its available forces into capturing Ukraine, while its own territory remained virtually unprotected. Ukraine took full advantage of this.

On the morning of August 6, units of the Ukrainian Armed Forces powerfully attacked the Kursk region in the direction of the city of Sudzhi, where there is a gas distribution station through which gas from Russia goes to Europe, a large railway line through which Russia supplied its troops in eastern Ukraine and where the Russian planning headquarters was located one offensive in northern Ukraine in the direction of the Ukrainian city of Sumy.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine immediately broke through the existing two lines of defense of the Russians and in these two days captured the territory of the Kursk region of 430 square kilometers, going several tens of kilometers deep into Russia on a wide front, including “liberating” the city of Sudzhi.
https://www.dialog.ua/war/299561_1723118290

Russian military propagandists are sounding the alarm and declaring that the Ukrainian army is implementing a large-scale maneuver, the purpose of which is to reach the city of Kurchatov, where the Kursk nuclear power plant is located. The Russian Telegram channel "VChK-OGPU" emphasizes that fighting is already taking place in Anastasyevka, which is located 40 km north of Sudzha. According to incoming information from the Russians, the Ukrainian Armed Forces can go to Lgov and then enter directly into Kurchatov.

Putin just yesterday convened the Russian Security Council on this matter, where he called Ukraine’s actions a large-scale provocation and ordered the Ministry of Defense to take measures. But there are practically no reserves in Russia anymore. They are forced to withdraw their troops from the Kharkov direction, where since May 10 Russia has been unsuccessfully trying to attack the Ukrainian Armed Forces, but are stuck in the border Volchansk.

There are already several hundred Russian prisoners. Yesterday, Z-bloggers wrote about the heroic border guards who bravely stood to the end, but today a full video of the surrender appeared, where it can be seen that the Russians themselves came out with a white flag and surrendered en masse without much resistance.
https://www.dialog.ua/war/299562_1723119135

In the Kursk region, there is panic among the civilian population, who hastily evacuate on their own, without the help of the Russian government, and are often caught in the crossfire. The Russian authorities have not come up with anything better than to completely turn off YouTube channels throughout the country at this critical time for them.
https://www.dialog.ua/blogs/299555_1723111403

[Wind_FURY]

Everyone probably thought that I wasn't serious whenever I talk about Bitcoin as a path for Russia to "export - with extra steps" their Crude Oil to evade U.S. sanctions. But on August 8, merely two days ago, Vladimir Putin already approved the legislation required to make it legal to mine Bitcoin in their region.

https://btctimes.com/putin-approves-legislation-legalizing-bitcoin-and-crypto-mining-in-russia/

I believe that if we start to notice more posts about the Russian government confiscating ASICs, then it's most probable that they will use it for their own mining interests.

[Abiky]

Everyone probably thought that I wasn't serious whenever I talk about Bitcoin as a path for Russia to "export - with extra steps" their Crude Oil to evade U.S. sanctions. But on August 8, merely two days ago, Vladimir Putin already approved the legislation required to make it legal to mine Bitcoin in their region.

https://btctimes.com/putin-approves-legislation-legalizing-bitcoin-and-crypto-mining-in-russia/

I believe that if we start to notice more posts about the Russian government confiscating ASICs, then it's most probable that they will use it for their own mining interests.

Of course. Russia will mine for its own benefit. By embracing a censorship-resistant cryptocurrency like Bitcoin, nothing should stand on its way. The advent of decentralized exchanges and atomic swaps allows one to bypass government-imposed restrictions and/or limitations with ease. I think Russia will begin stockpiling both BTC and Gold to boost its economy.

So what use does sanctions have? Nothing. Eventually, the West will give up as its efforts to curtail "Russia's War Machine" die in vain. We're very close from seeing this become a reality. Just wait after the 2024 US elections, and everything will be like nothing happened. Lets hope things don't escalate any further leading us to WW3.

[DrBeer]

As practice has shown, laws in Russia are adopted, figuratively speaking, not for something but against something

And cryptocurrencies are no exception. The adopted legislation seems to regulate the circulation of cryptocurrency, but if you read everything, the law looks like “yes, cryptocurrencies can be used...”. Only not to everyone, not everywhere, not for any purpose, and in general only to a specified group of people/companies, the rest must account for each satoshi”.
The second side of the issue is cryptocurrency as a means of mutual settlements between rogue countries. Probably could be used. But considering that their wallets will be known, using cryptocurrency to convert it into stable currencies for interaction with the normal world will not work. And “bitcoins of outcasts” will turn into useless digital assets ... Which in addition can be blocked  

[Wind_FURY]

They have. Currently their Crude Oil is sold to India for very cheap and discounted prices, then India sells them to Europe, China, and anywhere where it's needed. Because India took the risk, they're making billions from Russian Oil trades. I believe India is using the Ruble for their trades with Russia because they can't use the U.S. Dollar.

If that fails, they could use Gold. But if THAT fails, they could use - ?

If all else fails, sanctioned countries could use Bitcoin. It's said that some government officials from sanctioned countries are already using the cryptocurrency. They could easily buy/sell BTC in a P2P/F2F manner. This allows them to skip centralized exchanges (which are compliant with sanctions) altogether. If Bitcoin was centralized, none of this would've been possible.

Sanctions are just an spectacle from the West. Eventually, western countries will "shake hands" with Russia as if nothing ever happened. That's the hipocrisy of politics. The ones who ultimately pay the price are none other than civilians themselves. Who knows what will happen in the long run?

Everyone must have missed the latest news related to this.

Recently: Russia has allowed cryptocurrency payments in international trade transactions to combat sanctions from the US and EU. The bill is expected to take effect starting September this year, and with the introduction of cryptocurrencies into international trade payments, this will make US and EU sanctions packages even more useless.  
https://www.reuters.com/technology/russia-launch-international-payments-crypto-before-end-2024-2024-07-30/


Not to mention, even more interesting news is that right after the news that Russia will use cryptocurrency in international trade payments. El Salvador immediately proposed using cryptocurrency as an alternative payment method in international trade payments with Russia.
https://news.bitcoin.com/russian-diplomat-el-salvador-proposes-settling-trade-with-crypto/

Why are they throttling this sort of information? Because a friend of mine informed me that Russia will start using cryptocurrencies for international settlements next week. I need to confirm the news though, plus it might start to be posted everywhere later. It's probably too early before it starts spreading.

If confirmed that it's true, buy the small Bitcoin DIPs, and HODL before the propagation? It will spread very fast very soon.

👀

[pooya87]

Everyone probably thought that I wasn't serious whenever I talk about Bitcoin as a path for Russia to "export - with extra steps" their Crude Oil to evade U.S. sanctions. But on August 8, merely two days ago, Vladimir Putin already approved the legislation required to make it legal to mine Bitcoin in their region.

https://btctimes.com/putin-approves-legislation-legalizing-bitcoin-and-crypto-mining-in-russia/

I believe that if we start to notice more posts about the Russian government confiscating ASICs, then it's most probable that they will use it for their own mining interests.

It is a possibility but still you can't make that jump from Russia legalizing mining bitcoin to Russia using bitcoin for their import/exports. There are still a lot of issues that prevents them from doing so. Specially when there are alternative means of exporting their oil and getting the money...

[Abiky]

As practice has shown, laws in Russia are adopted, figuratively speaking, not for something but against something

And cryptocurrencies are no exception. The adopted legislation seems to regulate the circulation of cryptocurrency, but if you read everything, the law looks like “yes, cryptocurrencies can be used...”. Only not to everyone, not everywhere, not for any purpose, and in general only to a specified group of people/companies, the rest must account for each satoshi”.
The second side of the issue is cryptocurrency as a means of mutual settlements between rogue countries. Probably could be used. But considering that their wallets will be known, using cryptocurrency to convert it into stable currencies for interaction with the normal world will not work. And “bitcoins of outcasts” will turn into useless digital assets ... Which in addition can be blocked  

The thing is, these newly-drafted cryptocurrency laws in Russia benefit government officials more than average individuals. There won't be any freedom to mine coins in the country (despite Putin claiming otherwise). That's the cost of communism/socialism. By opening its arms to cryptocurrency mining and trading, Russia might be able to circumvent sanctions in their entirety. Especially if government officials do everything in a P2P manner.

Slowly but surely, increasing adoption of crypto worldwide will diminish the USD's strength as the world's reserve currency. Just you wait and see. I guess Russia wins after all, right?

[pooya87]

Slowly but surely, increasing adoption of crypto worldwide will diminish the USD's strength as the world's reserve currency.

"Crypto" is not an alternative to the US dollar so it's adoption will never affect the USD strength as the world's reserve currency. Not to mention that people see crypto as an investment which they mostly bet on the price (they are basically gambling with it) so it is not exactly an adoption to begin with. Bitcoin is also not used at large scale to be considered an USD alternative.

What affects the USD is what can replace it. There are a couple of options from the BRICS currency to other alternative shitfiats that are similar to the dollar such as Yuan. As they are being used more these days, the USD strength as reserve currency diminishes.

[STT]

Its another factor to give precedence to Bitcoin vs alternatives I think because Bitcoin is so open in its transactions.  Its clear this is the best blockchain for governments to favor and trying to suppress such an honest strong implementation will make matters worse.

They just arrested and put on bail for $5m the head of Telegraph, who in theory is Russian and not in reach of sanctions or various western laws.   To only temporarily evade sanctions may not be that useful if it restricts your usage of whatever gains you are hoping to profit from.     A suitcase of Dollars or Euros can do the same thing anyway, if anything its less noticeable.

Slowly but surely, increasing adoption of crypto worldwide will diminish the USD's strength as the world's reserve currency.

People have been speculating on the fall of the Dollar as the reserve since at least the 1960's.    I think FIAT standards are something which destroy themselves, the escape BTC might provide is the lifeboat more then any cause or accelerant to the problem imo.