Cryptocurrencies Could Be Used to Purchase Oil in the Future, Says Head of Russian Energy Giant

Igor Sechin, the head of Russian oil giant Rosneft, has recently revealed the possibility of the firm purchasing oil using cryptocurrencies in the future hasn’t been ruled out, although there are a few issues surrounding the cryptocurrency space that need to be fixed first.

According to a report published by local news outlet Snob, Sechin revealed the oil industry’s acceptance and awareness of the cryptocurrency space is on the rise, as tech giants from Silicon Valley like Google and Amazon are starting to explore the energy sector.

Per the news outlet, while speaking at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Sechin suggested Facebook’s reprotedly soon-to-be-launched stablecoin GlobalCoin could be used to purchase oil by the barrel in the future, although he noted there are a few setbacks in the cryptocurrency space that could be forcing energy giants like Rosneft away.

Sechin was quoted as saying (translated):

Greater flexibility often means greater volatility, and digitalization creates risks for maintaining commercial secrets and leads to the need to create new regulatory mechanisms, additional reservations. Today, technology companies do not have quality answers to these fundamental questions.

This is notably not the first time cryptocurrencies are linked to oil in Russia. Earlier this year, as CryptoGlobe covered, former Russian Energy Minister Igor Yusufov proposed the development of an oil-backed cryptocurrency to the State Duma, at a time in which the lower house of the country’s Federal Assembly was looking into cryptocurrency regulations.

Elsewhere, the Venezuelan government has launched an oil-backed cryptocurrency called the Petro, in a move made to help the country bypass international sanctions and gain access to foreign currency. The cryptocurrency proved to be a controversial one, and even saw U.S. President Donald Trump stop Americans from investing in it.

The Abu Dubai National Oil company has also conducted a pilot to test the use of blockchain technology for oil tracking, in collaboration with IBM.