Central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) like Russia's digital ruble pose no threat to US sanctions, according to US Under Secretary of the Treasury Wally Adeyemo.
In a CNBC interview on Wednesday, Adeyemo argument that the US dollar "will remain the dominant currency in the world" despite the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies.
Adeyemo noted that digital assets provide an “opportunity in many ways” for the US economy, but they are also associated with many challenges, such as money laundering. However, there are ways to combat this to benefit from the growing industry. The official said:
"We believe that ultimately, by working together with countries around the world, we can address this risk by asking digital asset creators to more closely follow the rules on money laundering."
Adeyemo also suggested that global central bank digital currencies are not associated with any risk in terms of US sanctions.
"We believe that even if a digital ruble or other digital currencies go into effect, there will still be scope for our sanctions to have an impact on their economies simply because the global economy is still interconnected," he said.
The official went on to say that companies in Russia do a lot of business around the world, and much of it is done in US dollars with US financial institutions because "the US economy is still the largest economy in the world."
"As long as that is the case, and as long as we make the necessary investments, we will still have the ability to use our sanctions regime to make sure we prevent what it was created to prevent," the official said.
Adeyemo's comments come shortly after the sanction of Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska called on the Russian government to adopt Bitcoin (BTC) as a tool to avoid US sanctions and weaken the US dollar. "The United States had long ago realized that uncontrolled digital payments are capable not only of nullifying the effectiveness of the entire economic sanctions mechanism, but also of bringing down the dollar as a whole," he argued last month.
Related: US Treasury says it must 'modernize and adapt' to digital currencies
In October, Russia's deputy foreign minister also reiterated Russia's plans to reduce the share of the US dollar in Russia's international reserves as part of the country's investment. plan to avoid the challenges posed by sanctions of the United States government.
The United States has imposed a series of sanctions on Russia in recent years for reasons such as suspected poisoning of opposition politicians, electoral interference and cyberattacks.
Post navigation
