Russian president Vladimir Putin has stated that he is not a big bitcoin hater. In fact, he even hinted in a recent interview that Russia could be the next big country to declare the currency a national payment option in the coming future, though a specific timeline was not given.

Vladimir Putin Discusses Crypto

The discussion centering around crypto hails from a recent one-on-one Putin had with CNBC. A question regarding oil contracts being settled in crypto rather than dollars was thrown at the Russian president, and he answered with the following:

Cryptocurrency contracts? It’s too early to talk about this because cryptocurrency, of course, can be a unit of account, but it is very unstable. To transfer funds from one place to another—yes, but to trade, let alone trade in energy resources, in my opinion, is still premature. The cryptocurrency is not backed by anything yet. It exists and as a means of calculation can be used, of course, yes, but trading in oil, say, or other primary materials and energy sources—still, it seems to me, it’s too early to talk about this for now.

Despite what appeared to be somewhat up-and-down statements, Putin mentioned that he is not entirely against crypto, and that the country could be the next established nation to embrace the growing industry of digital finance. He stated:

But everything develops. Everything has the right to exist. We will see how it will go further. Maybe someday it may also be a means of accumulation. We see this market fluctuate. It’s a bit early, today.

The idea of countries accepting digital currencies or declaring them legal tender has been a hot topic over the last few months considering El Salvador of Central America has become the first official nation to make such a move. President Nayib Bukele stated that bitcoin would become legal tender beginning in early September of this year. The currency could be used like the U.S. dollar – which the nation has long been dependent on – and must be accepted by local and national businesses.

While the system has had its ups and downs, the country has experienced a noticeable level of success and has even been commended by Bank of America, which mentioned in a report that there are benefits to El Salvador’s crypto agenda.

What About Elon?

Putin was also asked about Elon Musk, who has become a major crypto bull this year. As we all remember, the SpaceX and Tesla CEO purchased more than $1.5 billion in bitcoin in early 2021, marking the largest single institutional purchase of BTC in history. Putin was asked about the purchase and Tesla’s history with bitcoin, but the Russian president was rather brief in his response, commenting:

You need, you know about this, a huge amount of energy.

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