Putin believes it is too early to use crypto for oil trading

Russian President Vladimir Putin said recently that it is still too early to use cryptocurrencies for the settlement of trades of energy resources.

On Thursday, talking in an interview with CNBC in Russian Energy Week Forum, he pointed out possible use cases of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology which shows the government’s attentiveness on the subject.

The Kremlin posted the full interview on its website. It says that Putin believes that private cryptocurrencies can act as a unit of account, but they are not stable.

The president adds, “Cryptocurrency oil contracts? It is really early to talk about that. It works fine for transfer of funds from one account to another, but it is still premature when it comes to trading, especially energy resources.”

Putin on future possibilities

Putin further added that everything evolves and the Russian government is closely observing and analysing the cryptocurrencies market. He also hinted that there is a possibility of cryptocurrencies becoming a “means of accumulation” at some point. He said that we all know how volatile the market is, and it’s too early for these things.

Putin also pointed out that crypto is not backed by anything. When the interviewer asked if he considers the crypto holdings of Tesla CEO Elon Musk as worthless, he clearly said no. He explained that he only doubted crypto as a unit of account when in the context of energy trading.

The Russian president also added that the US Dollar undermines its position as a global receive asset. 

The Russian government is considering limiting the cryptocurrency investment by non-accredited investors through bringing some regulations. The nation’s central bank was previously reported to be planning to limit and slow the transactions to crypto exchanges. The bank says it was necessary to protect the retail investors from emotional buying of crypto.