Facebook, a social media giant, has gained one more supporter for its upcoming stablecoin, GlobalCoin. The head of Rosneft, a Russian oil company, has stated that in the future, there may be room for using GlobalCoin to purchase barrels of oil.
While speaking at this year’s St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), Igor Sechin, the head of Rosneft, noted that the company has not entirely prohibited the use of virtual currencies as a mode of payment when buying barrels of oil. Sechin acknowledged that cryptocurrencies have started gaining mainstream attention.
You consider the oil and gas sector, we consider technology
Additionally, top technology-focused companies such as Google, Apple, Amazon, and Facebook, have started paying attention to the oil and gas space. With Facebook showing interest in the oil and gas sector, “it will be possible to pay for the barrels of oil with the cryptocurrency Facebook – GlobalCoin.”
But, the Rosneft head added that a few issues within the cryptocurrency space need to be ironed out before such an interaction between oil and GlobalCoin happens.
“Greater flexibility often means greater volatility, and digitization creates risks for maintain 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.”
The sector needs to return to her former greatness
Apart from GlobalCoin being among other cryptos that can be used to purchase barrels of oil in the future, Sechin lamented that the energy sector has for a long time been held hostage by politics. For the head of Rosneft, the energy sector needs to “return to her former greatness.”
Russia is not alone in seeking to welcome cryptocurrencies to be used in the oil and gas sector. Other oil producing countries have indicated or already embraced the used of virtual currencies in oil and gas transactions.
Iran, crypto, and oil
At the beginning of this year, the Tehran Times reported that Iran is in talks with eight countries to embrace crypto payments when buying barrels of oil. Some of the countries said to be in talks with Tehran include South Africa, Russia, England, Bosnia, and Germany.
According to the head of the Trade Promotion Organization in Iran:
“Starting a new chapter in its international monetary transactions to circumvent U.S-led sanctions, Iran is negotiating the use of cryptocurrency in its financial transactions with eight countries.”
The United States president, Donald Trump, ignored earlier agreements that saw the economic sanctions lifted in 2015 and re-imposed them in November 2018. With the sanctions, the Iranian oil would not enter the US market.
Other countries like Venezuela are also finding a solution in cryptocurrency to evade the use of the dollar in their international trades. Venezuela has gone a step further to launch an oil-backed cryptocurrency known as Petro.
