Business and experts assessed the prospects for international settlements in cryptocurrency

Russian companies under sanctions pressure are interested in finding new financial instruments that will reduce their dependence on SWIFT in international settlements. Cryptocurrencies can become such an alternative, according to representatives of business associations and experts interviewed by Vedomosti. However, there are risks in such payments, including the possibility of blocking such transfers and the banal reluctance of foreign partners to use virtual money.

On December 19, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova announced the plans of the Bank of Russia to test, together with market participants, the use of cryptocurrencies for international settlements next year as part of an experimental legal regime. “We are now, within the framework of the experimental legal regime that we are preparing, we are planning to try the use of cryptocurrency for international settlements, that is, for foreign economic activity,” she said, speaking in the State Duma.