President Vladimir Putin on Cryptocurrency: ‘I Believe That It Has Value’
In a recent interview, Russian President Vladimir Putin shared his latest thoughts on use cases for cryptocurrency.
President Putin’s comments about cryptocurrency were made last Wednesday (October 13) during an interview with CNBC News Anchor and International Correspondent Hadley Gamble on day one of the three-day Russian Energy Week Forum in Moscow.
Gamble started the crypto section of the interview by asking about a comment made by Alexander Novak (Deputy Prime Minister of Russian since 2020) a few months ago, which was that we would some day see “oil contracts denominated in something other than U.S. dollars, possibly in crypto.” Gamble wanted to know when that would happen.
President Putin replied:
“It’s early to say so… Cryptocurrency may be a unit of account, but it’s not very stable… To transfer money to some other place, maybe, but it’s too early to talk about the trade of energy resources in crypto…
“Cryptocurrency is not supported by anything… It may exist as a means of payment, but I think it’s too early to say about the oil trade in cryptocurrency…
“And everything develops and it has has the right to exist and we’ll see in the future, maybe, it will be means of accumulation. We’ll see, but it’s early to talk about it today.“
Gamble then asked if this means that the crypto holdings of people like Tesla CEO Elon Musk are worthless.
President Putin answered:
“I believe that it has value, but I don’t believe it can be used in oil trade… In order to get cryptocurrency, demands tons of energy. And so far, we must use traditional means — hydrocarbons.“
https://youtube.com/watch?v=PBmY4H442gc%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Back in February, the Abu Dhabi based CNBC anchor talked to Celebrity investor Kevin O’Leary (aka “Mr. Wonderful” on ABC TV series “Shark Tank“) about crypto. According to a report by Bitcoin.com, O’Leary told her:
“I actually think that digital currencies are here to stay. Most people that are willing to hold them, including institutions over the last 90 days, are willing to deal with the volatility…
“I am fascinated. I’m investing. I’m holding a 3% weighting in it between ethereum and bitcoin. The volatility sickens me but I’m getting used to it…
“And, finally, I’m starting to think about how do I invest in the infrastructure of mining bitcoin.“
After Gamble tweeted about this interview, “Mr. Wonderful”, who has been a harsh critic of crypto in general and Bitcoin in particular in the past few years, revealed that he is now prepared to allocate up to 5% of his personal investment portfolio to cryptocurrencies.
And earlier this month, as reported by The Daily Hodl, O’Leary had this to say about crypto during an interview with Daniella Cambone, an editor-at-large for Stansberry Research:
“I have 5% in gold so crypto for the first time is more than gold for me, and I’m going to keep my gold. I see no reason to sell it. But in crypto, it’s not just betting on the price of Bitcoin (BTC) anymore. There are so many other ways to invest, particularly in blockchain opportunities [such as] Solana and Ethereum…
“There are so many different level ones, and of course, the level twos, the derivatives that are put on top of Ethereum and Solana and all the others… I just see a lot of investment opportunity, and I’m going to be an investor in that space.“
He also revealed that now 7% of his investment portfolio is in crypto.
https://youtube.com/watch?v=-itA_M-JAv0%3Ffeature%3Doembed
Disclaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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