Putin is the latest world leader to make a positive statement about crypto, saying that the digital asset is “not worthless” and that it has the “right to exist”. The president of Russia also added that it could one day find a niche in economies “as a means of accumulation.”
Putin made his statement whilst speaking to the news channel CNBC in an interview about energy, the transcript of the interview was posted to the Kremlin’s website. During the interview, he was asked about the possibility of using crypto as a means of payment in oil export deals.
The president responded to the questions by saying, ““Cryptocurrency[-funded] contracts? It’s too soon to talk about this. Because cryptocurrencies, of course, can be used a unit of account [in deals], but they are very unstable. Using them to transfer funds from one place to another [is viable]. But in my opinion, it is still premature to trade [with crypto] – especially when it comes to trading energy resources.”
The Russian leader was speaking to CNBC as part of a Russian Energy Week event, during a time when gas and oil prices are surging worldwide. And when pushed on his crypto views, he claimed that “everything has a right to exist” – even crypto.
Putin said, ““We will see how much further [crypto] will go. Maybe one day [tokens] could also become a means of accumulation. We see how the market develops. It’s a bit early [to pass judgment on crypto] at the moment.”
The Russian leader did state his view that crypto assets are “electronic resources” that “are not yet backed by anything,” but continued to show his support when asked if he thought that crypto was worthless. He answered, ““Why? [Crypto] does have worth. The question here is just whether it can be used as a unit of account when buying and selling oil? That’s all I’m talking about. For energy trading, it is necessary to use traditional units [of payment], particularly in the case of hydrocarbons.”
Putin’s remarks come soon after JPMorgan boss, Jamie Dimon, blasted Bitcoin at an Institute of National Finance event earlier this week. It seems that big players around the world are divided over their stance on crypto, with a number of world leaders keen to embrace the asset and others fighting for a complete ban of the asset altogether.
