Russia sells oil in encrypted currencies to circumvent Western sanctions

Reuters quoted four well -informed sources today, Friday, as saying that Russia is using encrypted currencies in its oil trade with China and India to circumvent Western sanctions, knowing that reports have never indicated that Russia used cryptocurrencies in the oil trade even though it publicly encourages their use and enacted legally, last summer, allowing the payment of digital currencies in international trade.

The sources stated that some Russian oil companies use Bitcoin and Ethar and stable currencies such as Tathar to facilitate the conversion of the Chinese and Indian -Indian yuan into the Russian ruble, adding that this is a small but growing part of the total Russian oil trade, which amounted to 192 billion dollars last year, according to the International Energy Agency. All sources refused to reveal their names due to the sensitivity of the matter.

The currencies already encrypted the countries that are subject to US sanctions, such as Iran and Venezuela, helped maintain their economies despite avoiding the use of the dollar, which is the preferred currency in transactions in the global oil market. The Russian move came after Venezuela rushed to use digital currencies in crude oil and fuel exports after the United States imposed sanctions on it again.

A fifth source, a researcher in an investigation company that tracks the use of encrypted currencies to circumvent the sanctions, asked not to be named also due to the non -disclosure agreement, that Russia has placed a variety of systems and that Triger is only one of them. The Russian Central Bank did not respond to a request for comment. He had said last year that the delay in payment due to the sanctions had become a major challenge to the Russian economy.

One of the four sources stated that Russia will likely continue to use encrypted currencies in the oil trade even in the event of lifting sanctions and the possibility of using the dollar again because it is an easy tool that contributes to speeding up operations.

(Reuters)