Pavel Zavalny, the Russian Federations Chief of Energy, has proposed the idea of accepting Bitcoin (BTC) as payment for its oil and gas from relatively friendly nations like China and Turkey. He said that instead of the international standard U.S currency, these nations may begin paying for energy in Russian Rubles, Chinese Yuan, Turkish Liras, or even BTC. He went on to say that hostile countries might pay for their oil in Rubles or gold. At the moment however, it is unclear if Russia has the authority to amend the terms of current contracts with nations that pay in Euros or U.S dollars. In related news, Russia has been looking at viable methods to avoid international economic penalties imposed on it for invading Ukraine. Russian banks have since been removed from the SWIFT system, preventing them from settling cross-border payments, and most firms, with the exception of the oil and gas trade, have similarly been barred from doing business with Russia.
