The Russian ruble has become one of the 20 most frequently used global currencies, SWIFT interbank transfer system data shows.
The ruble holds the 20th spot with a share of 0.18% in international settlements. It’s not the first time that the ruble has made the top 20. The Russian national currency appeared in the rating in December 2016, also in 20th place, with a share of 0.26%.
The most popular global currency is predictably the US dollar with a 39.38% share, followed closely by the euro with 38.43%. In third place and far behind the first two is the British pound sterling with 5.99%.
The top five also included the Japanese yen (2.74%) and the Chinese yuan (2.19%).
Russia has been actively promoting its national currency as a means of international settlement with its trading partners, moving away from transactions in the US dollar.
The ruble’s share in Russia’s bilateral trade with China has seen a rise from 1% in 2013 to 5.7% in 2020. Also, according to Russia’s newly released 10-year financial market development strategy, Moscow is aiming to step up efforts to boost the share of its national currency in settlements with international partners.
As many countries worldwide have recently been ditching the US dollar, its decreasing percentage in the total volume of international payments has been making room for other currencies. Therefore, “taking into account the relatively small current share of the ruble in international settlements, even a slight change in the indicators of more prominent currencies can significantly affect the place of the ruble in the rating,” Dmitry Babin, investment expert from BCS World of Investments, told RIA Novosti.
“Nevertheless, it is unlikely that in the foreseeable future the dollar and the euro will significantly reduce their participation in global transactions since the economies of the US and EU remain large and diversified enough to maintain the global status of their currencies,” he stated.
The Laos government has approved a pilot program on the experimental use of cryptocurrency mining and trading in the country for six companies, the Laotian Times newspaper reported on Monday.
According to a statement issued by the country’s prime ministers’ office, four construction companies, an IT company and the state-owned JDB bank were granted permission to mine and trade cryptocurrency. The six firms are allowed to conduct transactions using bitcoin and litecoin.
Also, the Laos government has instructed a number of regulators, including the central bank, to develop standards for the use of cryptocurrency in the country.
Prime Minister Phankham Vipkhavanh is scheduled to hold a working meeting with the government later this week to discuss the potential of using cryptocurrency in the republic.
The move towards embracing cryptocurrencies is in stark contrast with earlier statements from Laos officials. In August, the central bank issued a notice warning citizens against using cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, ethereum and litecoin, stressing that they are not connected to actual currency reserves and are not regulated by the country’s legislation, which makes them highly volatile and dangerous.
According to the notice, Laotians are prohibited by law from purchasing or selling cryptocurrencies, and those who don’t comply were urged to consider the risks associated with digital assets before making any investment or purchasing such products.
Laos follows in the footsteps of El Salvador and Cuba, which recently allowed the use of cryptocurrencies at the state level.
The Chinese government is planning to break up Ant Group’s Alipay and create a separate app for the fintech giant’s loans business, according to media reports.
Regulators previously ordered Ant Group to split the business of AliPay from lending businesses Huabei and Jiebei. Boom Bust’s Christy Ai and Ben Swann weigh in on the latest measures from the world’s second-largest economy.
The price of natural gas on the European market has been skyrocketing, hitting yet another record in Tuesday trading, according to the ICE exchange.
The price of the October futures on the TTF hub in the Netherlands on September 14 surpassed $800 per 1,000 cubic meters, or 65.50 euro per megawatt-hour in household terms.
Gaining over $70 per 1,000 cubic meters in just one day, the price of gas in Europe is now at its highest in at least the last decade.
Experts interviewed by TASS warned that although the current surge in the commodity price in Europe is abnormal and volatile, new records are more than possible given the low storage volumes and the fast-approaching winter. Gas prices may even reach $1000 per thousand cubic meters, but the situation will depend on a number of factors, including the rising gas price on the market in Asia and the weather, experts note.
Russia could save the day for the European energy market once it launches gas deliveries via the newly completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Dmitry Marinchenko, group director for natural resources and commodities at Fitch rating agency told TASS.
“At the moment, the launch of Nord Stream 2 can increase the supply of gas,” he said. And, apparently, the supply increase is needed, as the daily capacity of gas supplies through the two strings of Nord Stream 2 is comparable to the entire volume of liquefied gas that is now supplied to Europe, according to Alexey Grivach, deputy head of Russia’s Energy Security Fund.
Earlier this month, Gazprom said that the construction of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline was fully completed. It is planned to be commissioned by the end of 2021, right after all the required certification is obtained.
While many bitcoin opponents criticize the world’s top cryptocurrency for using ‘more electricity than many countries,’ Max and Stacy look back to what Henry Ford and others said about an energy-backed currency.
They also discuss the problem with using gold when governments control so much of it.
