A deputy in the Russian parliament proposed the creation of a strategic bitcoin (BTC) reserve to tackle sanctions imposed on the country, state-owned news agency Ria reported on Monday.
Anton Tkachev of the New People party, which formed in 2020 and has 16 out of the 450 seats in the State Duma, asked Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to “assess the feasibility of creating a strategic bitcoin reserve in Russia by analogy with state reserve in traditional currencies.”
The reserve would help counter the threat posed to Russian financial stability by sanctions, inflation and the volatility of traditional currencies that the country holds, such as the Chinese yuan, U.S. dollars and the euro, according to the proposal.
“In conditions of limited access to traditional international payment systems for countries under sanctions, cryptocurrencies are becoming virtually the only instrument for international trade,” Tkachev said in the proposal.
The proposal appears to echo U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to establish a strategic BTC reserve as a store of value to alleviate the pressures of the country’s national debt.