On July 30, 2024, Russian lawmakers passed a bill that will allow businesses to use cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, to skirt Western sanctions imposed after Russia's Special Military Operation into Ukraine. This is to go into force in September 2024. This is hoped to help with trade between Russia, China, India, the United Arab Emirates, and others. What are several advantages to Russia in doing so? Could there be "unintentional consequences" in dealing with Bitcoin? Is Bitcoin "as good as gold" or silver? What does the Bible teach about gold? Does the Bible allow for the '666' power to use unregulated Bitcoin? Has a bill been introduced in the US Congress for its Treasury to purchase 1 million Bitcoin? Has Donald Trump made statements about the USA stockpiling Bitcoin should he again become President of the United States? Does the Bible warn against debt accumulation, show that the USA dollar will one day be worthless, and prophesy that the strongest military on the earth will be conquered? Should you rely on any nation, gold, or cryptocurrency? What should Christians rely on? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie address these issues.

A written article of related interest is available titled 'Reuters: Russia to allow crypto payments in international trade to counter sanctions; Bloomberg: Trump Likes the Idea of a Federal Bitcoin Reserve’

Youtube video link: Russia, USA, & Bitcoin

Reuters: Russia to allow crypto payments in international trade to counter sanctions; Bloomberg: Trump Likes the Idea of a Federal Bitcoin Reserve

COGwriter

Reuters reported the following:

Russia to allow crypto payments in international trade to counter sanctions
MOSCOW, July 30 (Reuters) – Russian lawmakers passed a bill on Tuesday that will allow businesses to use crypto currencies in international trade, as part of efforts to skirt Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The law is expected to go into force in September, and Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina, one of the backers of the new law, said the first transactions in cryptocurrencies will take place before the end of the year.
Russia has faced significant delays in international payments with major trading partners such as China, India and the United Arab Emirates after banks in those countries, under pressure from Western regulators, became more cautious.
“We are taking a historic decision in the financial sphere,” the head of the Duma lower house of parliament, Anatoly Aksakov, told lawmakers. https://www.reuters.com/technology/russia-launch-international-payments-crypto-before-end-2024-2024-07-30/

Here is some more about that:

Russia Legalizes Bitcoin And Crypto for International Trade To Bypass Sanctions

In a significant legislative move, Russian lawmakers have passed a bill permitting businesses to use Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in international trade, according to a report by Retuers. This development is part of Russia’s strategy to circumvent Western sanctions imposed following the invasion of Ukraine. The new law, expected to take effect in September, aims to address delays in international payments, particularly with key trading partners like China, India, and the UAE. …
Despite efforts to shift to trading partners’ currencies and develop an alternative BRICS payment system, many transactions still rely on dollars and euros via the SWIFT system, risking secondary sanctions. Nabiullina emphasized that these sanctions have complicated import payments, extending supply chains and increasing costs.
This decision by Russian lawmakers aims to mitigate the economic challenges posed by sanctions and ensure smoother international trade operations. 07/30/24 https://bitcoinmagazine.com/business/russia-legalizes-bitcoin-and-crypto-for-international-trade-to-bypass-sanctions

While the BRICS nations may or may not end up with their own currency, Bitcoin is something that many of them are willing to deal in.

This helps Russia in many ways as 1) It has accumulated more Indian rupees than it has reasons to spend, 2) bypasses the USA dollar, and 3) gives Russia a lot more flexibility in buying from non-BRICS aligned nations as well.

Plus, Russia likely realizes that anything it can do to bypass the USA dollar hurts the USA which is trying to hurt Russia with its sanctions policies.

I have long warned of “unintended consequences” of USA sanctions policies against Russia.

Six years ago, we put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

15:19

US Sanctions and Tariffs leading to New World Order?

Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev said new US sanctions would be a declaration of economic war. Iran, North Korea, China, Europe, and Turkey are also upset about USA sanctions and tariffs. A Turk asserted “Somebody must find a solution and stop the USA.” The BRICS nations see US sanctions and tariffs as helpful to their objectives to trade without the USA. Are “unintended consequences” of USA policies threatening the current Anglo-American world order and leading to a New World Order? What has ‘Lord’ Jacob Rothschild and Russian President Vladimir Putin stated? Does Bible prophecy show that a confederation of Turks, Arabs, and Europeans pose a real threat to the USA and UK? Is the final time of the Gentiles coming? Will it be worse than people imagine? Dr. Thiel addresses these issues and more.

Here is a link to our video: US Sanctions and Tariffs leading to New World Order?

As far as cryptocurrencies go, ZeroHedge posted the following in 2022:

The Bitcoin is ‘as-good-as-gold’ myth is over
November 17, 2022
When you invest in gold or buy silver coins … you are choosing to invest in an asset that has no counterparty risk.
Sadly those who have been holding their bitcoin on the crypto exchange FTX, have not experienced the same level of reassurance and service from the exchange’s management.
This time last year, cryptocurrency enthusiasts were still touting “Crypto as the new gold”– crypto touted as having the same ‘safe’ attributes as gold.
The main attribute is that it is a currency that government doesn’t control. Also, it is without counterparty risk. The latest debacle has once more proved this is not always the case for cryptocurrencies.
The news that the crypto exchange FTX was filing for bankruptcy on November 5 sent Bitcoin plunging down a further 25%.
This is on top of the more than 60% Bitcoin has already declined since its November 2021 peak. …
The FTX collapse has brought to light that the CEO, Sam Bankman-Fried, had authorized billions of dollars worth of customer assets to be lent to its affiliated trading firm Alameda Research to fund risky bets.
According to news reports Alameda Research owes FTX upwards of US$10 billion. This is more than half of its US$16 billion in customer assets!
The bankruptcy case is likely to take years to unravel. There could be more than one million creditors, and more than 100 other related corporate entities involved.
Everyone who thought they owned Bitcoin held by FTX became an unsecured bankruptcy creditor. These are the ones who must now rely upon some Court to confirm just how much, or any Bitcoin they will receive. …
Only time will tell if the timing of the test (on the heels of the FTX collapse) is simply ‘bad timing’ or an omen of a system building in even more risk. Investing in physical gold and silver are still the tried-and-true alternative! https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2022-11-17/bitcoin-good-gold-myth-over
The reason crypto can never replace gold lies in physics: Gold cannot be destroyed
Everything else can. Computers. Exchanges. Mining Pools. Wallets. Powergrids. Internets. Nations. You name it. If you blew up the planet earth, the gold atoms would still be there.
Unlike anything else you can invest or store money in, gold doesn’t rely on any external force for this to continue to be true over time. It is sort of like a battery with no expiration date.
Gold exists as atomic number 79 on the periodic table. It is chemically inert and does not interact with oxygen. It is the only element with properties that make it completely immune to the forces of entropy. The only way to destroy it would be to fire it into the sun, or somehow put it in the middle of an equivalent fusion reaction that took the atoms apart at a subatomic level. (Stanczyk A. A Gold Guys View of Crypto, Bitcoin, and Blockchain. Medium.com, December 10, 2017 https://medium.com/@alex.stanczyk/a-gold-guys-view-of-crypto-bitcoin-and-blockchain-26e42eeab6b7)

Yes, gold and silver have been safer than being with FTX.

Cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, have never been backed by anything other than the desire of many to use it to trade or speculate with. (Note: that although currencies like the USA dollar were once backed by gold, currently it, and nearly all currencies of the world, are backed by nothing either–so in that respect are not much different than cryptocurrencies.)

As long time reader of this COGwriter Church of God News page are aware, I never bought into the myth that Bitcoin was “as good as gold” and have long warned about it–here is a link to something posted here over 8 years ago: Bitcoin seller ‘goes dark’–Bitcoins are not the answer.

Yet, for nations under sanctions such as Russia, Iran, and North Korea, they have different needs and interests which cryptocurrencies may assist.

It remains my view that once governments get involved enough with their own digital currencies, steps to eliminate Bitcoin will take place.

As far as governments being involved, former US President and Republican party candidate Donald Trump has brought it up. Notice the following:

Trump Likes the Idea of a Federal Bitcoin Reserve. Don’t Laugh.
The idea of a government fund invested in cryptocurrency may sound foolish, but there are reasons for the US Treasury to consider adding Bitcoin to its portfolio.
July 31, 2024
Which financial assets a central bank should buy and sell is hardly a novel question. Historically, the US Federal Reserve has focused on shorter-term Treasury securities, but quantitative easing had the Fed buying mortgage securities and quality commercial paper in significant quantities. More generally, central banks often hold gold and foreign currencies. https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2024-07-31/trump-likes-the-idea-of-a-federal-bitcoin-reserve-don-t-laugh
‘Absolute Game Changer’—Congress Introduces Radical Bitcoin Bill As Trump Primes Price For A $100 Trillion Surge To Replace Gold
The bitcoin price has climbed almost 20% since Trump was revealed to be the headline speaker at the Bitcoin 2024 conference in Nashville, Tennessee, with billionaire investor Mark Cuban issuing a “crazy” bitcoin price prediction.
Now, after Trump promised to create a “strategic national bitcoin reserve” and predicted bitcoin could eclipse gold’s $16 trillion market capitalization, U.S. senator Cynthia Lummis (R-WY) has introduced a bill to direct the U.S. Treasury to purchase 1 million bitcoins worth almost $70 billion—while MicroStrategy’s Michael Saylor has upped his huge bitcoin price prediction. …
“If I am elected, it will be the policy of my administration, United States of America, to keep 100% of all the bitcoin the U.S. government currently holds or acquires into the future, we’ll keep 100%,” Trump said during his Saturday speech at Bitcoin 2024. “This will serve, in effect, as the core of the strategic national bitcoin stockpile.” https://www.forbes.com/sites/digital-assets/2024/07/28/absolute-game-changer-congress-introduces-radical-bitcoin-bill-as-trump-primes-price-for-a-100-trillion-surge-to-replace-gold/

The Bible teaches that the coming Beast power will control buying and selling (Revelation 13:16-18)–hence the Bible makes no provision for something like Bitcoin being able to operate like it has.

A couple of years ago, the European Union has stated that it will be the “sheriff” of Bitcoin. Related to that, the Continuing Church of God (CCOG) put out the following video on our Bible News Prophecy YouTube channel:

9:03
EU to be ‘Sheriff’ of BitCoin & Digital Currencies
Will Bitcoin remain unregulated? The European Union does not think it should be and it released a paper titled “Proposal for EU Regulation on Markets in Crypto-Assets.” Christine Lagarde, president of the European Central Bank, earlier endorsed EU regulation of crypto and digital currencies. A Belgian declared that the EU was the “new Sheriff in town” to deal with the “wild west” of Bitcoin, blockchain, and other cryptocurrencies. The European Union now also has the European Public Prosecutor’s Office in operation, mainly to deal with financial matters? Will the Europeans end up controlling buying and selling associated with 666 in Revelation 13:16-18? Is Europe taking preliminary steps to do so now? Dr. Thiel address these issues.

Here is a link to our video: EU to be ‘Sheriff’ of BitCoin & Digital Currencies.

As far as gold goes, it is mentioned 453 times in the NKJV Protestant translation of the Bible and 464 times in the Roman Catholic Douay-Rheims Bible–hence it is something that the Bible refers to. Furthermore, gold is prophesied to have worth into the time of the Great Tribulation (cf. Revelation 18:12,16), but that will not last either. For more on gold and prophecy go, check out the article: The Plain Truth About Gold in Prophecy. How Should a Christian View Gold?

As far Bitcoin itself goes, unless adopted and controlled by the Beast, it will become worthless.

The time is also coming when the USA dollar will be worthless. And yes, the Bible tells that for a time gold will be worthless, but that does not happen to gold until years after the demise of the US dollar. But placing too much confidence in gold, currencies, or alternatives like Bitcoin will not truly save anyone (cf. 1 Peter 1:7). Yet, true repentance and turning to the Jesus of the Bible can.

UPDATE 08/04/24: We just uploaded the following related video:

14:59
Russia, USA, & Bitcoin
On July 30, 2024, Russian lawmakers passed a bill that will allow businesses to use cryptocurrencies, like Bitcoin, to skirt Western sanctions imposed after Russia’s Special Military Operation into Ukraine. This is to come to force in September 2024. This is hoped to help with trade between Russia, China, India, the United Arab Emirates, and others. What are several advantages to Russia in doing so? Could there be “unintentional consequences” in dealing with Bitcoin? Is Bitcoin “as good as good” or silver? What does the Bible teach about gold? Does the Bible allow for the ‘666’ power to use unregulated Bitcoin? Was a bill been introduced in the US Congress for its Treasury to purchase 1 million Bitcoin? Has Donald Trump made statements about the USA stockpiling Bitcoin should he again become President of the United States? Does the Bible warn against debt accumulation, show that the USA dollar will one day be worthless, and prophesy that the strongest military on the earth will be conquered? Should you rely on any nation, gold, or cryptocurrency? What should Christians rely on? Dr. Thiel and Steve Dupuie address these issues.

Here is a link to our video: Russia, USA, & Bitcoin.

Although the USA is not likely to repent nationally to prevent its prophesied demise (c. Habakkuk 2:6-8; Daniel 11:39; Isaiah 10:5-11), nor can Bitcoin prevent it, personally you can repent, as well as physically take steps, before the dollar-based economic system collapses.

Do NOT place your confidence in Bitcoin, FTX, the US dollar, or gold, but “seek first the Kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33).

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