Russia Employs Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether to Skirt $192B Oil Trade Sanctions with China, India

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Updated Mar 14, 2025, 09:54 AM

Russia is employing cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Ethereum, Tether (USDT), in its oil trade with China and India as a means to circumvent Western sanctions, according to multiple sources cited by Reuters. This strategy facilitates the conversion of Chinese yuan and Indian rupees into Russian rubles, forming a small but expanding segment of Russia's $192 billion oil trade last year. The use of digital currencies in Russia's oil transactions has not been previously reported, despite the country's public encouragement of cryptocurrency and the passage of a law last summer allowing digital currency payments in international trade. This move follows similar strategies by other sanctioned countries like Iran and Venezuela, which have used cryptocurrencies to maintain their economies amidst U.S. sanctions. The transactions involve a process where a Chinese buyer pays a trading company in yuan, which is then converted into cryptocurrency and transferred through multiple accounts before being converted back into rubles in Russia. This method is reported to handle transactions worth tens of millions of dollars monthly for some Russian oil traders.

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