Bloomberg: Russian companies turn to cryptocurrencies for commodity trading

On May 28th, at least two top Russian metal producers have started using Tether Holdings' stablecoin and other cryptocurrencies to settle some of their cross-border transactions with suppliers. The company's executives declined to reveal their identities as the information is not public. In some cases, settlements are made through Hong Kong.

Ivan Kozlov, a digital currency expert and co-founder of Resolv Labs, said that in countries facing US dollar liquidity issues and capital controls, settling cross-border transactions using cryptocurrencies, particularly stablecoins pegged to the US dollar, is a relatively common practice, not only in the commodity sector.