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Russian legislator suggests creating an analogue to the gold fund to ensure the stability of payment systems, get around sanctions, and generate more value from cryptocurrencies. Russia wants to use Bitcoin to insulate itself from sanctions, calling for the creation of a national digital currency reserve to enhance money stability. Bitcoin as an investment class makes nations think about incorporating it into their reserves. The recent move by Russia to accumulate Bitcoin is not surprising similar to other countries to use cryptocurrency to evade sanctions and to fortify their economy.
A current member of parliament from Russia has proposed that Russia ought to establish a Bitcoin reserve so as to safeguard Russian finances since there’s always geopolitical risk and sanctions from other countries. In recent years, a representative of the “New People” party in the State Duma, Anton Tkachev, has filed an appeal to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov about the attempted organization of a new kind of state reserves, based on Bitcoin similar to the reserves containing foreign currency, such as US dollar or euro.
Bitcoin as an Alternative to Reserve Currency
In the recent letter by a Russian lawmaker Anton Tkachev, he explained that traditional foreign exchange has its drawbacks including volatility, inflation and sanctions. To his nasty surprise, many of these challenges, according to him, pose threats to Russia’s financial stability.
He suggested that Bitcoin could be adopted as such reserve asset, given that digital currencies are beyond the controls or financial systems of individual countries. It makes them more sustainable in case of geopolitical risks. This precedes an enonomist Peter Schiff motion projection that the Biden admin should sell all US government’s Bitcoin holdings.
Since many sanctioned countries do not have access to international payment systems, Bitcoin could become crucial for international trade “Indeed, said Tkachev. In particular, he underscored that decentralization of Bitcoin is beneficial for Russia as an asset that would allow the country to break the traditional financial system and avoid sanctions.
Russian Lawmaker Highlights BTC’s Rising Appeal as a Strategic Investment
Tkachev also focused on the high investment rates of Bitcoin further claiming that Bitcoin was worth $100,000 in December 2024. He mentioned that the return rates of Bitcoin make it not just a sound form of money but also a chance of getting rich. Based on this growth, it enticed Tkachev to recommend that Russia should store Bitcoins as a method of storing reserves like gold or foreign currencies.
In accordance with this, Now it is clear that MicroStrategy and several other firms have incorporated Bitcoin into their investment portfolios. MicroStrategy is unrelentingly a buyer of bitcoins, with the most recent transaction being the purchase of 21,550 BTC for $2.1 billion in December. This has taken its total to over 423,000 BTC, thus establishing the company’s stance on Bitcoin as an investment for the longer span.
In the same way, Hut 8 Corporation which deals specifically with Bitcoin mining declared its intentions of using stock offerings of up to $500, which will be applied partly to buy more bitcoins.
Russia’s Cryptocurrency Strategy and International Trends
Russian lawmaker, Anton Tkachev’s proposal coheres with general Kremlin trends of creating substitutes for conventional financial systems. The Central Bank of Russia is already getting ready for an experiment on the recognition of cryptocurrencies for cross-border payments and minerals; it is planned to provide people with an opportunity to arrange foreign trade transactions without using the traditional financial systems of the West, which is under restrictive sanctions now.
This is so as the move is one of the recent strategies adopted by countries of the world in trying to find out whether the adoption of digital currencies is a good way of keeping the economies stable.
Russia’s interest in Bitcoin as a reserve asset also correlates with global trends in the same manner.The Bitcoin Act of 2024 has also been forwarded to Congress by American Senator Cynthia Lummis to ensure that a national Bitcoin reserve is created to bolster the US dollar and thus extend the country’s control over the international market on the benefit of cryptocurrencies.
That said, former U.S. President Donald Trump has also been keen on the idea of having a BTC reserve, some of his campaign agendas include having a strategic reserve of BTC for the American economy in today’s digital world.
Although Russia’s proposal is yet seen as premeditated, it indicates that many countries are increasingly considering this digital currency as a resource. The former CEO of Changpeng Zhao of Binance for instance, posited that nations such as China might at some time in the future begin to establish their own Bitcoin reserves more characteristic as global economic nostrils continue to escalate. He further pointed out that while small nations could initially champion the calls for the use of this approach, larger economic entities could similarly consider the option in future.
