The Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov has stated at the Primakov Readings Forum that cryptocurrencies could play a critical role in international settlement deals. The comments came in the context of the Minister’s speech where he clarified that Moscow does not plan to abandon the US dollar completely.

Lavrov commented that cryptos could fit in some international settlement’s use cases when the time comes. “I think the time will inevitably come when cryptocurrencies will play a very significant role [in trade and finance] and occupy a very significant segment of the international settlements sector,” he said.

Furthermore, the Minister highlighted the current developments in China about cryptos, possibly referring to the digital yuan’s pilots underway across the Asian giant and saying that similar plans are in the works in the Kremlin. That said, all seems to be related to the plans of launching a digital ruble, the official central bank digital currency (CBDC) of Russia. However, he did not clarify in his initial statement which virtual currencies could play a crucial role in international trade.

Gold Reserves No Longer Stored in Dollars

On the same line, Lavrov said the government seeks to pursue a de-dollarization of the Russian economy, which is a step that has been taken already by the Kremlin in regards to their Gold reserves.

“We really want to engage in the de-dollarization of the Russian economy and financial system. The other day, we decided that our gold and foreign exchange reserves will no longer be stored in dollars. The corresponding actions have already been taken. But, I would like to stress, once again, that this does not mean that we are ruling out the use of the dollar in general,” he added.

Also, during the forum, Alan Lushnikov, the owner of the AK-47 inventor’s firm, Kalashnikov, endorsed any plans to abandon the SWIFT payment network and switch to the use of digital currencies. However, he did not clarify if he meant cryptocurrencies specifically.