Russian president Vladimir Putin has said in an interview with CNBC cryptocurrencies can be a means of payment, but it is too early to use them as payment for oil.
In response to the question of when settlements under contracts for oil supply will not be carried out in dollars, but, for example, in cryptocurrencies, Putin has said that it is still too early to talk about this:
"Contracts in cryptocurrencies? Now it is too early to speak about it. To transfer means from one place to another - yes, but to use them in trade, the more so trade in energy resources, I think it is too early."
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He has pointed out that Bitcoin has a right to exist, despite the fact that "it is not yet backed by anything." At the same time, Putin does not believe that the crypto is useless:
"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."
The president has suggested that in the future, Bitcoin may be used as a store of value.
He has also pointed out that it takes a lot of energy to create cryptocurrencies:
"And after all, you know that much energy is needed for issuing. And traditional types, first of all, hydrocarbons need to be used, at least so far, for that."