Russia forms crypto focus group for foreign trade

Russia has reportedly established an experimental legal regime (ELR) focus group to legalize crypto payments for foreign trade. It is a part of the country’s efforts to find an alternative to the dollar to settle international trade deals due to Western invoked sanctions.

Initially cautious about crypto, the Russian government recently pushed the legislation to support digital money. In order to support these payments, Russia is also looking to launch the Digital Ruble in 2025, while crypto mining and payments were legalized in August.

Russia to test crypto payments in foreign trade

Sources familiar with Vedomosti reported that Russian authorities with an aim at legalizing crypto payments for foreign trade called in all individual importers. This includes several people from the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Russia (CCI) and the Association of Developers and Manufacturers of Electronics (ARPE) along with select banks.

It mentioned that the group focuses on importers facing challenges with payments like China and other countries. This is particularly for dual-use goods i.e. items with both civilian and military applications. This move looks to ease the payment barrier with the usage of digital assets as it has been an area where traditional banking methods often stumble due to geopolitical issues.

Companies with larger business turnover were also taken into consideration while forming the focus group. However, the ELR might expand to include more participants, but the timeline for scaling up remains unclear.

Russia looks at crypto for help

Russia exploring its ways with crypto for cross-border payments to get its international trade stable. Its Central Bank (CBR) is fast-tracking legislation for electronic money with the digital ruble pilot projects running.

It recently legalized crypto mining and payments while Russian companies are struggling with cross-border payments in yuan. The CBR hopes digital financial assets (DFA) will provide a smoother solution and reduce their dependency on traditional currencies and intermediaries.

The Komi region is expected to become Russia’s next crypto mining hotspot. Its Governor Vladimir Uyba in fresh moves announced plans for 15 new data centers to boost mining capabilities. The initial installations will be in Mikun and Sindor. This initiative garnered strong support from investors after Gazprom’s announcement of a new subsidiary dedicated to crypto mining.

As of now, the global digital assets market is dealing with higher selling pressure as the biggest crypto like Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH) are printing red indexes. The cumulative crypto market cap saw a marginal decline over the last day to stand at $2.04 trillion.