17/04/2024 on the air of the program “Economics” Alexander Linnikov, founder of L&P and Chairman of the Board of the National Payment Council, outlined the position of the expert community on ensuring Russia’s sovereignty in the field of international settlements and the use of digital currencies in cross-border payments.
“It is premature to talk about the full-fledged and widespread introduction of digital currencies. However, this work is underway, and it can be assumed that in the future, digital currencies will be widely and confidently used, including in settlements with foreign counterparties. Probably, today’s question is dictated by the statement of the Chairman of VTB Bank Andrey Kostin calling for the abandonment of SWIFT and to persuade all our partners abroad to do so. However, I would not argue so categorically. Perhaps it is more appropriate to talk about the need to create a real alternative to SWIFT, about the development of competing systems that could displace SWIFT in the international settlement market. For this purpose, the Bank of Russia and the Russian financial community are already taking certain measures,” Alexander Linnikov said.
