Experts assessed the US desire to influence other countries through bitcoin reserve

Russian crypto-industry experts have assessed the words of Sam Lyman, director of government relations at Riot Platforms, the largest U.S. mining company, who said that bitcoin could become a way for the United States to influence other countries, including Russia. In a column for Fortune business magazine, he expressed his belief that the states need to build up bitcoin reserves in order to create foreign policy leverage.

"Creating a reserve will spark a fever around digital gold. It will slow investors' flight to physical gold, perhaps even turning them back around. In the hands of U.S. policymakers, bitcoin could become a tool of economic statesmanship, counterbalancing attempts by China and Russia to move away from the dollar," Lyman writes.

The U.S. wants to make the bitcoin reserve a geopolitical tool to influence other countries for a reason, Russian analysts and representatives of the crypto industry believe. U.S. fears have good reason, especially now that the industry in Russia is gaining momentum, says Igor Runets, CEO of BitRiver.

"Western countries see the potential of our country. They realize what our successes can lead to. Therefore, they are trying to prevent us from taking the first place in global mining in various ways. To do this, they try to attract the attention of their authorities: 'Look at the growth rate of the crypto industry in Russia, we need to do something to prevent them from getting ahead'." The good news is that Western countries can't really prevent us from doing anything," Igor Runets told Komsomolskaya Pravda.

According to him, cryptocurrencies are closer to traditional finance than it seems, and in the future they will stand on the same line with the money we are used to.

"Cryptocurrencies are a return to traditional basic capabilities, where countries are free to decide for themselves how to do business, who to be friends with, who to trade with and who not to trade with. The blockchain technology on which popular cryptocurrencies are based are algorithms of distributed international trust. And no one can unilaterally change the rules of the game," he said.

Rufat Abyasov, an independent expert in the digital economy, also agreed with Runtz.

"There is no central body in the world to issue or regulate cryptocurrencies. But America seeks to take control even of what was originally conceived as an alternative to centralization. Right now, the place at the helm of the digital economy is not yet occupied, and it will be better if we are the ones to govern, rather than us," he emphasized in a conversation with Izvestia.

Konstantin Ordov, Ph.D., director of the Higher School of Finance at Plekhanov Russian Economic University, also noted in a conversation with the publication that mining is becoming one of the most important tools for strengthening Russia's economic independence.

"This is an opportunity not only to develop digital infrastructure, but also to use the country's energy resources with maximum efficiency," the expert added.

The year 2024 was a landmark year for the new strategic industry of industrial mining in Russia: a federal law was adopted that approved the rules of operation and regulation of the industry, a record growth in foreign investment was recorded, and the country consolidated its status as one of the world leaders in cryptocurrency mining.

The government has repeatedly emphasized the importance of developing mining in energy-scarce regions. For example, at a November meeting with the president, Alexei Nechaev, head of the New People faction, noted that mining could bring "up to 200 billion rubles a year" to the country's budget through taxes.

Representatives of the industry are confident that the Russian energy system has become an ideal platform for such energy-intensive processes. Mining data centers are built in regions with a surplus of electricity, which allows balancing the load of the entire system, thereby increasing its efficiency. In addition, the construction of data centers means high-paying jobs for local residents, development through new investments and additional income for energy providers.

In addition, industrial mining is a base for the development of artificial intelligence, a promising industry that requires huge computing power.

The expansion of infrastructure for projects in the field of artificial intelligence is being widely discussed at various venues. For example, this week Moscow is hosting Artificial Intelligence Journey 2024, an international conference on artificial intelligence and machine learning. Its plenary session was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, who emphasized that in-house AI development is one of the key conditions for the country's scientific, technological and worldview sovereignty.

"Why am I talking about worldview sovereignty among other things? Because the algorithms, the principles of artificial intelligence are laid down, certainly, at least for the time being and mostly by people, guided by certain values, language, images, culture, understanding of history, traditions, national peculiarities and interests. In order to determine the future, the fate of Russia, we must create such technologies ourselves," the President said.

He added that Russia's experience in the practical application of AI is in demand in different countries of the world, and "domestic companies intend to continue to create products and services based on artificial intelligence for themselves and for the whole world".

According to the forecasts of the global analytical platform Statista, the Russian AI segment in the period from 2024 to 2030 will grow significantly faster than in the rest of the world. The average annual growth rate of the sphere in our country will amount to 46.49%. Industrial mining will play no small role in this rapid development.

Existing data centers are a ready infrastructure for the development of AI and any energy-intensive computing. They are designed so that the capacity can be used for both cryptocurrency mining and AI projects. As noted by the media, these data centers can be converted in a short period of time - from one month to six months. And without government funding, at the expense of private investors.

Industry leaders are already now declaring their readiness to convert 20% of the capacity of their data centers to work on artificial intelligence. This will allow Russia to avoid the considerable financial and time costs of building data centers from scratch, and thus win the crucial two or three years in the new technological race.