Glazyev urged to urgently legalize digital currencies to circumvent sanctions

MOSCOW, 2 Apr – PRIME. Russia urgently needs to legalize the use of digital currencies for international payments, since businesses will in any case be forced to use them to circumvent sanctions, Sergei Glazyev, Minister for Integration and Macroeconomics of the Eurasian Economic Commission (EEC), said in an interview with RIA Novosti.

 

“Now it is urgent to legalize the use of digital currencies for at least stablecoins in order to conduct cross-border settlements,” Glazyev said.

The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation in February submitted to the government a bill on the regulation of cryptocurrencies. The document establishes the rules for their legal circulation, while maintaining a ban on their use as a means of payment in Russia. At the same time, the Bank of Russia took a different position – in January, the regulator advocated a complete ban on the issuance and circulation of cryptocurrency in the country.

“If the Central Bank does not legalize them, business entities will still be forced to use them. But in an illegitimate way, they will do it at a risk to themselves,” Glazyev noted.

“Against the backdrop of the sanctions of the NATO countries, which have actually paralyzed international settlements, it is necessary to introduce digital tools. As an alternative to bank transfers, not only cryptocurrencies, but also digital currencies pegged to the value of other assets – stablecoins can act. These tools are available today,” he stressed. is he.

In early March, due to the situation in Ukraine, the European Union decided to disconnect seven Russian banks from the SWIFT financial information exchange system: these are VTB, Rossiya and Otkritie banks, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Sovcombank and the state corporation VEB.RF. This forced Russia to look for alternative methods of international payments.

Read the full text of the interview on the website. ria.ru April 4 at 11.00.