Reuters quoted 4 sources, which it described as saying that Russia is using encrypted currencies in its oil trade with China and India to circumvent Western sanctions.
Reports have never indicated that Russia used the cryptocurrencies in the oil trade, although they publicly encourage their use and a law last summer allows the payment of digital currencies in international trade.
The sources stated that some Russian oil companies use bitcoin, ether 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.
Reuters said that all the sources refused to reveal their names due to the sensitivity of the matter.
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.
The currencies have already helped the subject countries For US sanctionsLike Iran and Venezuela, in maintaining the rotation of its 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 said that Russia has placed a variety of systems and that the proliferation is only one of them.
The Russian Central Bank said last year that the delay in payment due to the sanctions had become a major challenge to the Russian economy.
