Putin adviser says crypto import payments will stay relevant for the next two to three years

Yuri Titov, an adviser to Vladimir Putin, said crypto assets are one of the few practical ways to settle import payments while payment channels keep getting blocked. For high-risk PSPs, the important part is not the rhetoric; it is that crypto is being discussed as an import settlement rail, not just a trading asset.

1. Titov told TASS that a crypto-linked cross-border payments platform is already working, and that he sees no more reliable tool for settling with partners in Asian countries while “adversaries” keep closing off one payment loophole after another.
2. He added that using cryptocurrency to pay for imports will remain relevant for the next two to three years, as long as the “current geopolitical situation” continues.
3. On 1 September, a government law on state regulation of cryptocurrencies entered into force in Russia. The same day, the first cryptocurrency transactions on Neobridge were reported. Neobridge is a platform used to pay for imports of computer equipment from the UAE.
4. Kirill Pistsov, head of product development at the financial group Finam, told Bits.media that crypto wallets used by Russian exchangers, exchanges, brokers, and digital custodians could be relatively easy to trace if foreign authorities decide to impose sanctions. In that case, assets moving through those wallets would be treated as high-risk.

For PSPs and acquiring teams working with crypto-linked merchant flows, the practical takeaway is simple: import settlement is being pushed into digital assets, but the associated wallets can become sanction-sensitive very quickly once foreign regulators decide to look closely.