🔵 Bitcoin's Rollercoaster Year
🔹 Bitcoin and cryptocurrency prices have experienced a wild ride in 2024, roaring back to life. This week is expected to be pivotal for the bitcoin price, as market dynamics are set to change dramatically.
🔸 Recent movements have been influenced by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, who has hinted at a potential dangerous in September. However, China's economic actions might overshadow even the Fed's impact on the market.
🟢 Toncoin Crash and Russia's Crypto Moves
🔹 This backdrop comes as the Telegram-linked bitcoin rival, Toncoin, suddenly crashed. Simultaneously, Russia has revealed plans to start testing bitcoin and cryptocurrency exchanges on September 1 to facilitate cross-border transactions, severely impacted by U.S.-led sanctions.
🔸 Anonymous sources reported via Bloomberg that Russia's National Payment Card System will be utilized to swap rubles and cryptocurrencies during these trials.
🟡 Russia's Financial Struggles
🔹 Russia's businesses have been grappling with paying overseas suppliers and receiving payments for exported commodities. This struggle was exacerbated in June when the U.S. intensified its crackdown on foreign banks working with Russia, leading many Chinese banks to halt yuan payments.
🔸 Having been cut off from the Western financial system since losing access to the Swift international banking system in 2022, Russia is now exploring crypto as an alternative to its traditional financial avenues.
🟠 Future Prospects for Russian Crypto Exchanges
🔹 If the trials prove successful, Russia could greenlight the Moscow Exchange and the St. Petersburg Currency Exchange to create their own crypto platforms by next year.
🔸 This move marks a significant shift in Russia's approach to cryptocurrency, which contrasts sharply with its earlier stance. In 2022, the Kremlin proposed a blanket crypto ban, yet now it seems crypto is being embraced for practical purposes.
🟣 Russia's Growing Support for Crypto
🔹 The timing of Russia's shift comes as former U.S. President Donald Trump, a 2024 White House hopeful, has embraced the technology, promising to create a bitcoin strategic reserve if reelected in November.
🔸 Russia's finance minister Anton Siluanov acknowledged that the country is actively seeking ways to allow international crypto exchanges to operate within its borders, though solutions are still being explored.
🔸 Earlier in August, President Vladimir Putin signed into law bills passed by Russia's parliament that legalized crypto mining and provided a framework for testing digital tokens for cross-border payments under the central bank's supervision.
The coming weeks and months will reveal how Russia's new crypto strategy unfolds, and whether it can withstand the economic tremors caused by sanctions and global financial shifts.
