According to a Reuters report, Russian companies are using Bitcoin and USDT to facilitate oil trade with China and India in order to bypass international sanctions.
According to an investigation by Reuters published on March 14, Russian oil companies are using cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Tether (USDT) to facilitate trade with China and India, thus bypassing international sanctions imposed after the conflict with Ukraine began.
It is reported that a Russian oil trader conducts monthly transactions worth tens of millions of dollars using digital assets. The source, who spoke anonymously due to a non-disclosure agreement, emphasized the effectiveness of Bitcoin and Tether as alternative payment systems.
By the end of 2024, the Russian finance minister had publicly stated that Russia is free to use assets like Bitcoin in foreign trade.
How the payment works
The mechanism, according to Reuters, involves intermediaries managing offshore accounts and facilitating transactions in the buyer’s local currency. In a typical scenario, a Chinese buyer of Russian oil pays a trading company acting as an intermediary in yuan to an offshore account.
The intermediary then converts the payments into cryptocurrencies and transfers them to another account, which in turn sends them to a third account in Russia where they are converted into Russian rubles.
One of Reuters’ sources stated that cryptocurrencies will likely continue to be used in Russia’s foreign oil trade regardless of sanctions, even if they were lifted and Russia were free to use the dollar. “It is a convenient tool and helps run operations faster,” the source said.
