Russian authorities have begun shifting foreign trade with China to cryptocurrency, particularly for companies that purchase dual-use goods — those that can be used for both civilian and military purposes. This is reported by The Moscow Times.
The publication’s sources note that the first participants in this experiment were electronics manufacturers, individual members of the Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, and several banks. Priority was given to companies that faced difficulties in making payments due to sanctions, particularly in China and other countries. These companies have the largest turnover, and the Russian government decided to involve them in the experimental legal regime (EPR).
Amendments allowing the use of cryptocurrency for foreign trade contracts were signed by the President of Russia in early August 2024 and entered into force on September 1. In addition to the ability to use digital currencies for international payments, these changes allow exchange transactions with cryptocurrency under the supervision of the Central Bank of Russia.
However, experts express doubts about the effectiveness of such an approach. Mykhailo Uspenskyi, a member of the State Duma’s Expert Council on Cryptocurrency Regulation, said that access to EPR is currently limited, and an average business cannot join this “elite club.” On the other hand, Yuriy Brisov, a partner at the consulting company Digital & Anologue Partners, emphasizes that attempts to circumvent sanctions through cryptocurrency can quickly fail, since all transactions in the blockchain are open to verification.
Payment problems between Russia and China escalated in December 2023 after US President Joe Biden signed an executive order on secondary sanctions. This led to the fact that major Chinese banks stopped accepting payments from Russia, even in yuan. In July 2024, it became known that Chinese financial institutions began to secretly divide the yuan into “clean” and “dirty”, refusing to work with the latter, which is associated with Russia.
