Sustainably Investing in Digital Assets Globally

Chapter 41Russia Leads Multinational Stablecoin Initiative

Russia is taking the lead in issuing a multinational stablecoin backed by commodities with the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) and BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

Russian President Vladimir Putin is the most influential person in the blockchain industry, according to Changpeng Zhao, the CEO of major cryptocurrency exchange Binance, which added five trading cryptocurrencies: Binance Coin (BNB), Bitcoin (BTC), Ether (ETH), and XRP at the beginning of December 2020, as well as adding Tether (USDT) later the same month against the Russian ruble.

Putin was the first to propose a multinational cryptocurrency along with the EAEU and BRICS countries after being advised by Vitalik Buterin in the wake of the 2017 cryptocurrency bubble.

With the EAEU's Agreement on Trade and Economic Cooperation with China coming into effect during 2020, Russia, with full support of the EAEU countries and BRICS Business Council, sought to establish a multinational stablecoin backed by commodities, along with BRICS pay, a cloud platform that will connect the countries' national payment systems through a mobile payment app. Russia, India, and China are planning to link national payment messaging systems, China's CIPS and Russia's FMSB, to accomplish this. This will be a major step on the path to dedollarization and a decoupling from the current United States–controlled global banking system and could lay the foundation ...