Senior Russian Finance Ministry official: Russia should develop its own stablecoin pegged to other currencies

Russia should develop its own stablecoin pegged to other currencies after the stablecoin USDT held by Russia-linked digital wallets was frozen last month, a senior finance ministry official said on Wednesday. Russian regulators have allowed the experimental use of cryptocurrencies in Global Payment, which has become more difficult due to western sanctions. Before the freeze, USDT was popular among Russian companies as a payment tool. "The recent freeze has led us to think that we need to consider creating an internal tool similar to USDT, possibly pegged to other currencies," said Osman Kabaloev, deputy head of the ministry's financial policy department.
Elvira Nabiullina, the governor of Russia's central bank, has opposed the use of cryptocurrencies in domestic payments, but she said Russian businesses are actively testing international cryptocurrency payments as part of an experiment.