Russian official says he is willing to accept Bitcoin for energy exports

According to Bitpush, Pavel Zavalny, chairman of the Russian State Duma Energy Committee, said in an interview with the country's official media Russia Today that Russia is willing to accept Bitcoin for its energy exports. The interview video quickly fermented on social media.

Pavel Zavalny said: "When it comes to our 'friendly' countries, like China or Turkey, they do not put pressure on us, then for some time we have been offering them to convert payments into their national currencies, like rubles and yuan, in Turkey it can be lira and rubles, so there can be multiple currencies, this is a standard practice. If they want Bitcoin, we will trade Bitcoin."

The United States has banned imports of Russian oil, gas, and coal, but has not imposed secondary sanctions on non-US actors that purchase these commodities. As of press time, Russian officials have not confirmed whether the country will accept Bitcoin as a form of payment for energy exports. But what is certain is that if confirmed, Bitcoin will once again face strict scrutiny from US and EU lawmakers, who have been concerned that cryptocurrencies could be used by Russia and its elite to circumvent sanctions.

CME Bitcoin futures premium hits highest level since early January

The three-month annualized rolling premium for CME bitcoin futures, an avenue for institutional participation, rose to 4.8% early Thursday, reaching its highest level since Jan. 4, according to data provided by Skew.

“This is likely driven by bullish institutional investors and the continued rollover of BTC ETFs, which could lead to buying pressure in further-dated futures,” Arcane Research said in its weekly report.

As BitTorrent previously reported, the ProShares Bitcoin ETF (BITO)'s total Bitcoin exposure rose to over 28,000 BTC on Monday, setting a new all-time high.

The Fed’s rate hike has already “landed”, macro uncertainty seems to have disappeared, and analysts remain confident about the prospects of Bitcoin. Marcus Sotiriou, a market research analyst at GlobalBlock, believes that “tens of thousands of Bitcoins purchased by [Luna Foundation Guard] and withdrawn from the market may have a significant impact on prices in the coming weeks/months. Assuming that oil prices do not hit new highs, Bitcoin shorts will find it difficult to fight buying pressure, and in my opinion, sellers will be exhausted.”