The demand for foreign trade settlements in cryptocurrency among businesses on the horizon of the year can reach a volume of 4 trillion rubles, Igor Runets, the founder and CEO of BitRiver, told bitcoinlinux on April 20.
Earlier that day, the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina, during a speech in the State Duma, said that the regulator was ready to be flexible and “enable entrepreneurs to pay with foreign counterparties through crypto, if this helps to solve their problems now.” At the same time, she stressed that this should be done carefully, within the framework of an experimental legal regime, not allowing the use of cryptocurrency for settlements within the Russian Federation.
“In our opinion, the demand for cryptocurrencies for foreign trade settlements among businesses on the horizon of the next year can reach 4 trillion rubles,” Runets said.
He also said that the market is seeing an increase in demand for legal industrial mining.
“At the same time, the Russian economy and the population will derive maximum benefit from this only with a balanced regulation of mining and cryptocurrency circulation in Russia,” the expert said.
Runets stressed that the popularization of cryptocurrency should be treated in a balanced way, it is necessary, taking into account the adopted legislation, to carry out explanatory and educational work among the population and business representatives in order to prevent the realization of risks for the economy and financial system of the Russian Federation.
“The demand for mining in Russia since the beginning of the year has been correlated in a certain proportion with the growth in the rate of the most liquid cryptocurrency and the standard of public blockchain – bitcoin. Of course, electricity prices for industrial consumers play a significant role here. A further increase in demand for legal industrial mining, including from institutional investors, will largely depend on the immersion of mining and the circulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian legal field, the dynamics of cryptocurrency rates, and electricity prices in the country,” he explained.
According to him, these factors influence the formation of the Russian crypto-payment infrastructure.
“At the current stage, as we see, the regulator allows the creation of such an infrastructure primarily for the development of foreign trade in Russia,” Runets said.
The expert clarified that such logic, in particular, is laid down in the legislation currently being developed.
“We think that with balanced regulation and a competent monetary policy, the use of cryptocurrency in foreign trade settlements will help at least prevent significant sharp fluctuations in the ruble exchange rate, but at the same time help to fulfill all the tasks set to reduce the budget deficit and support the external settlements of Russian business with foreign partners,” concluded Runets.
On March 9, it was reported that, as Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma committee on the financial market, told bitcoinlinux, a bill on mining and cross-border transactions with cryptocurrencies would be adopted in the first half of 2023. The regulation will take effect from July. As Aksakov explained, the bill, which involves the legalization of the mining of cryptocurrencies and the declaration of income from this activity, will prescribe liability for non-compliance with it.
