BITCOIN | Russian Companies Using Bitcoin in International Trade to Side-Step Sanctions, Reveals Russian Finance Minister

Russian companies, exchanges, and crypto entities are eligible to apply to the central bank to become part of the 'experimental' regime.

kodzilla··2 min read

Companies in Russia have begun using bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in international trade to bypass unilaterally-imposed sanctions, the country’s finance minister, Anton Siluanov, has revealed.

The move follows an ‘experimental’ regulatory regime that took effect on November 1 2024, permitting Russian businesses and individual entrepreneurs who are officially registered with the Ministry of Digital Development to undertake crypto mining activities.

 

“As part of the experimental regime, it is possible to use bitcoins, which we had mined here in Russia (in foreign trade transactions),” Siluanov told Russia 24 television channel.

 

“Such transactions are already occurring. We believe they should be expanded and developed further. I am confident this will happen next year [2025],” he said, adding that international payments in digital currencies represent the future.

 

Russian companies, exchanges, and crypto entities are eligible to apply to the central bank to become part of the ‘experimental’ regime.

 

The Russian government has approved a list of regions where crypto mining will be limited or completely banned starting from January 1 2025 until March 15 2031. This includes the southern republics of:

  • Dagestan
  • Ingushetia
  • Kabardino-Balkaria
  • Karachay-Cherkessia
  • North Ossetia, and
  • Chechnya

as well as Russia’s new regions:

  • The Donetsk People’s Republic
  • Lugansk People’s Republics, and
  • Zaporozhye region, and
  • Kherson regions
Earlier in 2024, Russian President, Vladimir Putin, kicked off the expanded BRICS 2024 summit by calling for the creation of an alternative international payment system aimed at curbing the U.S.’s ability to use the dollar as a political tool.

 

“The dollar is being used as a weapon. We really see that this is so. I think that this is a big mistake by those who do this,” said Putin at the summit in the Russian city of Kazan.

The summit saw the introduction of “BRICS Pay, a new payment system based on blockchain technology, designed to link national payment methods with commercial systems in member countries.

According to South African Finance Minister, Enoch Gondogwana, the system came from a desire to boost trade among member countries, especially for nations like Russia, which have faced economic difficulties due to Western sanctions and exclusion from the SWIFT system.

 

The United States has imposed sanctions at a record-setting pace again this year [2024], with more than 60 percent of all low-income countries now under some form of financial penalty, according to a recent analysis.


The analysis indicates that the U.S. Treasury officials can impose sanctions on any foreign person, firm, or government they deem to be a threat to the U.S. economy, foreign policy, or national security. There’s no requirement to accuse, much less convict, anyone of a specific crime. The move, however, makes it a crime to transact with the sanctioned party.

 

 

 

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