Is Russia set to invest billions in Bitcoin and spark the next bull run?

A Russian university professor has speculated that Russia will invest billions of their capital reserves into Bitcoin in 2019, potentially igniting the next bull run.

Vladislav Ginko, a lecturer at Moscow’s Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, anticipates that the Kremlin will start diversifying their cash reserves into Bitcoin amidst the possibility of new sanctions from the US, as reported by Australian news outlet Micky.

Previous sanctions by the US have been primarily targeted at Russian oligarchs, particularly ones with deep ties to Vladimir Putin. Many of these oligarchs are suspected of corruption, allegedly sanctioned by the Kremlin. Tensions between the US and Russia have been strained since the sanctions took affect.

Ginko now believes that “US sanctions may be mitigated only through Bitcoin use.”

The economist is a graduate of Saint Petersburg State University and has held several academic, investment, and government roles over the last two decades.

He notes that the Central Bank of Russia has approximately $466 billion worth of capital sitting in their reserves. Ginko believes that Russia must begin diversifying the reserves in case there is limited opportunity to do so in the future.

Ginko has taken to Twitter to promote these views, noting that he expects Russia to invest “at least $10 billion in the first quarter of this year.”

A day later, in response to follow-up tweets, Ginko commented that “de-dollarization is actually forced by US sanctions when Russia is going to be almost switched off from US payments for its oil and gas.”

“Because of US and EU sanctions, Russian oligarchs were forced to immediately move their US denominated assets from abroad, and now they see Bitcoin is the best option to invest.”

This sentiment is also shared by Russia’s president Vladimir Putin. On RT, a Russian international television network funded by the Russian government, Putin claimed that: “We have no goal of moving away from the dollar, it’s the dollar that’s moving away from us.”

Furthermore, Ginko has claimed that Putin is attracted to the idea that FinTech could provide Russia with a solution to avoid US sanctions.

If Russia were to start investing their capital reserves in Bitcoin, we might possibly be on the cusp of a 2019 bull run that could see Bitcoin and the entire market soar.

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