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Russia legalizes crypto for cross-border trade amid sanctions

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Illustrative image of two commemorative bitcoins seen in front of the national flag of Russia displayed on a computer screen.

Artur Widak | Nurphoto | Getty Images

Russian lawmakers on Tuesday approved a new law permitting the use of cryptocurrency for international payments, as the country faces ongoing financial pressure from Western sanctions.

The State Duma, which is the lower house of the Russian Parliament, on Tuesday gave the initial greenlight to the new legislation, which would allow businesses to use cryptocurrencies for cross-border trade, local media reported.

“We are taking a historic decision in the financial sphere,” Anatoly Aksakov, the head of the Duma, told lawmakers Tuesday, according to reporting from news agency Reuters.

Mati Greenspan, CEO of crypto market research firm Quantum Economics, said Russia warming to crypto made sense as bitcoin transactions “cannot be censored or blocked by any government or bank,.”

“Previously, Russia would not want to allow that kind of transactional freedom to its citizens — but now we’re at the point that bitcoin is used so often in every day commerce that the opportunity cost for them not to allow it is simply too great,” he added.

Bitcoin prices have more than doubled in the past year amid optimism over the approval of the first U.S. spot bitcoin — and, more recently, etherexchange-traded funds, as well as the so-called halving event which reduces the supply of newly issued tokens.

The world’s largest digital currency is currently worth $66,000, according to CoinGecko data, up over 120% in the last 12 months.

Under pressure from sanctions

Growing tensions between Russia and the U.S. and its allies have led to innumerable sanctions on individuals and entities in Russia in retaliation to its assault on Ukraine.

How Wall Street learned to love bitcoin

The U.S., European Union and Britain are among the jurisdictions that imposed sanctions on Russia after its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine. They’ve continued to amp up pressure on the country, targeting President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s financial sector, and countless oligarchs.

In addition to passing legislation allowing Russian firms the ability to transact internationally via crypto, the Russian central bank will also be given permission to move money overseas using private digital currencies.

Elvira Nabiullina, the Russian central bank governor, said Tuesday that crypto-based payments would begin taking place before the end of 2024.

“We are already discussing the terms of the experiment with ministries and departments, with businesses, and we expect that the first such payments will take place before the end of this year,” she said.

The central bank’s commitment to use crypto as a method of cross-border payment marks a reversal from the regulator’s previous stance on the technology.

In January 2022, the Russian central bank proposed banning the use of crypto for transactions, as well as the mining of digital currencies, citing threats to financial stability, citizens’ wellbeing and monetary policy sovereignty.

Separately, Russia is also exploring the implementation of a digital version of the ruble. Central Bank Governor Nabiullina said Tuesday that the regulator will look to move away from a pilot phase toward mass implementation of the digital ruble from July 2025, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Central bank digital currencies, or CBDCs, are different from crypto. Unlike bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which have no central authority governing them, CBDCs are issued by directly by a government and are designed to replicate fiat currencies in the form of a digital token.

Can crypto help countries evade sanctions?

Quantum Economics’ Greenspan said that Russia’s move to accept crypto “makes total sense from a global trade perspective.”

This will, he added, “help the Russians open up cross border payments with countries and businesses that would otherwise be closed to them due to U.S. sanctions.” 

Other sanctioned countries have frequently attempted to circumvent such financial curbs through the use of cryptocurrencies. North Korea, for example, has on multiple occasions been accused of raising millions of dollars in crypto to help fund various state programs and evade foreign sanctions.

North Korean state-backed hacking group Lazarus was behind a huge heist on the Ronin Network — a blockchain that supports a popular nonfungible token (NFT) game called Axie Infinity. The hack saw cybercriminals make off with over $600 million worth of digital tokens, blockchain analysis firms Elliptic and Chainalysis have said previously.

Iran, too, has been accused of exploiting digital currencies to bypass international trade barriers.

Proponents of cryptocurrencies, on the other hand, also claim that the digital assets are a useful tool for countering illicit activities. That’s because the networks that underpin them, called blockchains, are public and show a historical record of transactions that is cryptographically secure and can’t be altered.

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Buffett denies social media rumors after Trump shares wild claim that investor backs president crashing market

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Berkshire Hathaway responds to 'false reports' on social media

Warren Buffett went on the record Friday to deny social media posts after President Donald Trump shared on Truth Social a fan video that claimed the president is tanking the stock market on purpose with the endorsement of the legendary investor.

Trump on Friday shared an outlandish social media video that defends his recent policy decisions by arguing he is deliberately taking down the market as a strategic play to force lower interest and mortgage rates.

“Trump is crashing the stock market by 20% this month, but he’s doing it on purpose,” alleged the video, which Trump posted on his Truth Social account.

The video’s narrator then falsely states, “And this is why Warren Buffett just said, ‘Trump is making the best economic moves he’s seen in over 50 years.'”

The president shared a link to an X post from the account @AmericaPapaBear, a self-described “Trumper to the end.” The X post itself appears to be a repost of a weeks-old TikTok video from user @wnnsa11. The video has been shared more than 2,000 times on Truth Social and nearly 10,000 times on X.

Buffett, 94, didn’t single out any specific posts, but his conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway outright rejected all comments claimed to be made by him.

“There are reports currently circulating on social media (including Twitter, Facebook and Tik Tok) regarding comments allegedly made by Warren E. Buffett. All such reports are false,” the company said in a statement Friday.

CNBC’s Becky Quick spoke to Buffett Friday about this statement and he said he wanted to knock down misinformation in an age where false rumors can be blasted around instantaneously. Buffett told Quick that he won’t make any commentary related to the markets, the economy or tariffs between now and Berkshire’s annual meeting on May 3.

‘A tax on goods’

While Buffett hasn’t spoken about this week’s imposition of sweeping tariffs from the Trump administration, his view on such things has pretty much always been negative. Just in March, the Berkshire CEO and chairman called tariffs “an act of war, to some degree.”

“Over time, they are a tax on goods. I mean, the tooth fairy doesn’t pay ’em!” Buffett said in the news interview with a laugh. “And then what? You always have to ask that question in economics. You always say, ‘And then what?'”

During Trump’s first term, Buffett opined at length in 2018 and 2019 about the trade conflicts that erupted, warning that the Republican’s aggressive moves could cause negative consequences globally.

“If we actually have a trade war, it will be bad for the whole world … everything intersects in the world,” Buffett said in a CNBC interview in 2019. “A world that adjusts to something very close to free trade … more people will live better than in a world with significant tariffs and shifting tariffs over time.”

Buffett has been in a defensive mode over the past year as he rapidly dumped stocks and raised a record amount of cash exceeding $300 billion. His conglomerate has a big U.S. focus and has large businesses in insurance, railroads, manufacturing, energy and retail.

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Stocks making the biggest moves midday: PLTR, CAT, AAPL JPM

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Powell sees tariffs raising inflation and says Fed will wait before further rate moves

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US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell holds a press conference after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting, at the Federal Reserve in Washington, DC on March 19, 2025. 

Roberto Schmidt | Afp | Getty Images

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said Friday that he expects President Donald Trump’s tariffs to raise inflation and lower growth, and indicated that the central bank won’t move on interest rates until it gets a clearer picture on the ultimate impacts.

In a speech delivered before business journalists in Arlington, Va., Powell said the Fed faces a “highly uncertain outlook” because of the new reciprocal levies the president announced Wednesday.

Though he said the economy currently looks strong, he stressed the threat that tariffs pose and indicated that the Fed will be focused on keeping inflation in check.

“Our obligation is to keep longer-term inflation expectations well anchored and to make certain that a one-time increase in the price level does not become an ongoing inflation problem,” Powell said in prepared remarks. “We are well positioned to wait for greater clarity before considering any adjustments to our policy stance. It is too soon to say what will be the appropriate path for monetary policy.”

The remarks came shortly after Trump called on Powell to “stop playing politics” and cut interest rates because inflation is down.

There’s been a torrent of selling on Wall Street following the Trump announcement of 10% across-the-board tariffs, along with a menu of reciprocal charges that are much higher for many key trading partners.

Powell noted that the announced tariffs were “significantly larger than expected.”

“The same is likely to be true of the economic effects, which will include higher inflation and slower growth,” he said. “The size and duration of these effects remain uncertain.”

Focused on inflation

While Powell was circumspect about how the Fed will react to the changes, markets are pricing in an aggressive set of interest rate cuts starting in June, with a rising likelihood that the central bank will slice at least a full percentage point off its key borrowing rate by the end of the year, according to CME Group data.

However, the Fed is charged with keeping inflation anchored with full employment.

Powell stressed that meeting the inflation side of its mandate will require keeping inflation expectations in check, something that might not be easy to do with Trump lobbing tariffs at U.S. trading partners, some of whom already have announced retaliatory measures.

A greater focus on inflation also would be likely to deter the Fed from easing policy until it assesses what longer-term impact tariffs will have on prices. Typically, policymakers view tariffs as just a temporary rise in prices and not a fundamental inflation driver, but the broad nature of Trump’s move could change that perspective.

“While tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation, it is also possible that the effects could be more persistent,” Powell said. “Avoiding that outcome would depend on keeping longer-term inflation expectations well anchored, on the size of the effects, and on how long it takes for them to pass through fully to prices.”

Core inflation ran at a 2.8% annual rate in February, part of a general moderating pattern that is nonetheless still well above the Fed’s 2% target.

In spite of the elevated anxiety over tariffs, Powell said the economy for now “is still in a good place,” with a solid labor market. However, he mentioned recent consumer surveys showing rising concerns about inflation and dimming expectations for future growth, pointing out that longer-term inflation expectations are still in line with the Fed’s objectives.

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