Bitcoin
Russia considers legalizing cryptocurrencies as a form of payment amid sanctions
Illustrative image of two commemorative bitcoins seen in front of the Russian national flag displayed on a computer screen.
Arthur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images
Russia is considering legalizing the use of cryptocurrencies for international payments as the country faces continued financial pressure due to Western sanctions.
The State Duma, the lower house of Russia’s parliament, will consider on Tuesday a law allowing international payments to be made using cryptocurrencies, Elvira Nabiullina, governor of Russia’s central bank, said on Tuesday.
“Today, the State Duma is considering a law allowing settlements in cryptocurrencies within the framework of an experimental regime,” Nabiullina said, speaking in the Russian Federation Council, the upper house of the Russian parliament, according to state news agency RIA Novosti.
The Duma is expected to approve the law on Tuesday, Reuters reported separately.
Russia’s central bank is also looking to move money across borders using cryptocurrencies, with its head saying crypto-based payments will happen before the end of 2024.
“We are already discussing the terms of the experiment with ministries and departments, with companies, and we hope that the first payments will take place before the end of this year,” she said.
The Russian Embassy in London was not immediately available to comment on the country’s plans to adopt pro-crypto legislation when contacted by CNBC on Tuesday.
The central bank’s commitment to using cryptocurrencies as an international payment method marks a reversal of the regulator’s previous stance on the technology.
In January 2022, the Russian central bank proposed to ban the use of cryptocurrencies for transactionsas well as digital currency mining, citing threats to financial stability, citizen well-being and monetary policy sovereignty.
This comes at a time when rising tensions between Russia and the US and its allies have led to numerous sanctions against individuals and entities in Russia in retaliation for the attack on Ukraine.
The US, the European Union and Britain are among the jurisdictions that have imposed sanctions on Russia following its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. They have continued to increase pressure on the country, targeting President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s financial sector and numerous oligarchs.
Separately, Russia is also exploring the implementation of a digital version of the ruble.
Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are different from cryptocurrencies. Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which do not have a central authority governing them, CBDCs are issued directly by a government and are designed to replicate fiat currencies in the form of a digital token.
Central Bank Governor Nabiullina said on Tuesday that the regulator will seek to move from a pilot phase to a mass implementation of the digital ruble from July 2025, Russian news agency Interfax reported.
Other sanctioned countries often try to circumvent these financial restrictions through the use of cryptocurrencies.
North Korea has been accused on numerous occasions of raising millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies to help fund various state programs and evade foreign sanctions.
The North Korean state-backed hacking group Lazarus was behind a major heist in Ronin Network — a blockchain that powers a popular non-fungible token (NFT) game called Axie Infinity. The hack resulted in cybercriminals making off with more than $600 million worth of digital tokens, blockchain analytics firms Elliptic and Chainalysis previously said.
Cryptocurrency advocates, on the other hand, also argue that digital assets are a useful tool for combating illicit activity. This is because the networks that support them, called blockchains, are public and show a historical record of transactions that is cryptographically secure and cannot be altered.
Bitcoin has lost out on an asset rally fueled by positive comments from the Federal Reserve, while a tight US election race casts doubt on whether Donald Trump will get the chance to implement his pro-crypto agenda.
The digital asset fell 2.4% on Wednesday, following a Fed-fueled surge in an index of megacap tech stocks Magnificent Seven by one of the largest margins in 2024. The token retreated further on Thursday, changing hands at $63,750 as of 6:10 a.m. in London.
Bitcoin
‘This is huge’ — Billionaire Mark Cuban issues ‘incredible’ Bitcoin and crypto prediction amid price slump
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Bitcoin
came back with a vengeance this year when former President Donald Trump Cryptocurrency boosts US presidential election in November with ‘revolutionary’ plan.
The price of bitcoin has surged to more than its all-time high in recent months, surpassing $70,000 per bitcoin and triggering a wave of mega-optimistic predictions about the price of bitcointhough it fell again this week, falling below $65,000 after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates steady.
Now, as Elon Musk suddenly breaks his silence on bitcoin and cryptocurrenciesBillionaire investor Mark Cuban called a California plan to digitize 42 million car titles using blockchain an “incredible step forward” and “huge” for cryptocurrencies.
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Mark Cuban, famous Shark Tank investor and billionaire owner of the NBA team Dallas Mavericks, has… [+] called a cryptocurrency update “amazing” amid bitcoin’s price slump.
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The California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) has digitized 42 million car titles using blockchain, it was reported by Reuters, through technology company Oxhead Alpha on the Avalanche blockchain and designed to detect fraud and facilitate the securities transfer process.
“This is an incredible development for crypto,” Cuban, best known as an investor on TV’s Shark Tank and owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, posted on X, joking that U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler could sue the state as part of his hostility toward cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology.
“The reason this is huge for crypto is because people who hold the tokens will have an app with an Avalanche wallet,” Cuban said. “Tens of millions of Californians having and using a crypto wallet in the next five years, or however long it takes, normalizes the use of wallets and crypto.”
John Wu, president of Avalanche developer Ava Labs, told Reuters that California’s DMV is “creating a wallet that you can download on your phone.”
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Bitcoin’s price has rallied this year, triggering a wave of bullish bitcoin price predictions from… [+] people like billionaire Mark Cuban.
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Last month, Cuban predicted that if the US dollar falls as the global reserve currency, bitcoin could become “a global ‘safe haven’” and a “global currency.” potentially sending the price of bitcoin to a much higher level.
According to Cuban, bitcoin could become what its most ardent supporters “envision” — a means “of protecting our economies… This is already happening in countries facing hyperinflation.”
The price of bitcoin has skyrocketed over the past year, largely due to the world’s largest asset manager, BlackRock, leading a bitcoin attack on Wall Street.
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At a national bitcoin conference in Nashville, Donald Trump finally laid out some of his crypto policy proposals, including a long-awaited part of his plan — building a strategic bitcoin reserve. CNN’s Jon Sarlin explains what it is and why the crypto industry wants it.
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