Russian President Vladimir Putin has referred to digital currencies as part of the settlement instruments for the planned BRICS investment platform. Putin stated that work on this platform had already begun, and that these digital assets might have a place in this institution.
Putin Profiles Digital Currencies as Possible Settlement Rails for a BRICS Investment Platform
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Putin Talks Digital Currencies as Settlement Tools for Upcoming BRICS Investment Platform
The BRICS bloc seems relentless in its pursuit of a de-dollarized financial system. Russian President Vladimir Putin recently considered the role that national digital currencies might play in the organization’s future. At the “Russia Calling!” forum, organized by the VTB bank, one of the largest financial institutions in the country, Putin referred to these digital assets, acknowledging that experts predicted that global growth would benefit from the use of these assets and their associated infrastructure in the financial sector.
As part of this new paradigm, Putin believes that the digital ruble, which is currently in its pilot phases, will be relevant in the future. He recalled that 9,000 citizens and 1,200 companies were part of this phase. The digital ruble will be used for settlement in the federal budget system next year, with general availability programmed to launch in July.
Putin then linked these digital assets with the development of an upcoming investment platform that would group all the BRICS nations, including Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE), hinting at the use of these as tools to complete multilateral settlements.
He stressed that Russia’s leading position in financial technologies allowed it to “build relationships with foreign partners, promote integration projects, and benefit from the convergence of our countries’ economic potentials,” connecting this with the development of the investment platform that has started “at least.”
At the same forum, Putin highlighted the traits of digital currencies and bitcoin specifically compared to the U.S. dollar, stating that nobody can ban it in its current form and that these technologies would persist and adapt to avoid external restrictions and interventions from third parties.
Read more: Putin Declares Bitcoin Unstoppable Amid Dollar’s Waning Global Grip
