Ukraine promises sanctions over Russia’s use of Bitcoin in foreign trade: report

Ukraine is gearing up to block Russia’s use of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in foreign trade, with sanctions already in the works.

The government of Ukraine has unveiled plans to impose “sanctions and other solutions” aimed at blocking Russia‘s use of Bitcoin (BTC) for international payments, just a day after Russia’s finance minister Anton Siluanov publicly confirmed that Russian companies are already using crypto to evade Western sanctions.

Vladyslav Vlasiuk, an advisor to the Ukrainian president, said that Ukraine had already alerted its international partners to Russia’s intentions earlier this year and that measures to prevent unwanted crypto payments are already in development, Ukrainska Pravda reports.

“Are we at all surprised? No, we were, without exaggeration, the first to draw our partners’ attention to such plans of the enemy back in the summer. Appropriate sanctions and other solutions to block the possibility of using unwanted cryptocurrency payments are already being prepared.”

Vladyslav Vlasiuk

Russia seeks Plan B

Russia has been looking for ways to get around sanctions that have impacted its ability to make and receive international payments, even with countries like China. As crypto.news reported earlier, Russian companies have turned to using stablecoins like Tether’s (USDT) to carry out cross-border transactions.

Some of Russia’s largest metal producers have started using stablecoins for trade with Chinese clients, though details on the volume of these trades are unclear. Sources have said that other alternatives are much slower or could risk having an overseas bank account frozen.

Siluanov’s admission comes just a few months after the Kremlin established a legal framework for Bitcoin miners, which includes a provision allowing approved companies to use crypto for international trade.