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Vladimir Putin Says West’s Attempt to ‘Crush the Russian Economy’ Did Not Succeed

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Last week the Russian ruble hit a seven-year high against the U.S. dollar and while analysts have downplayed the rise, one economist said people should not “ignore the exchange rate.” American economists have been perplexed about the ruble’s market performance and Russian officials have been quoted as saying that a strong ruble “makes Russian exports more expensive.” Furthermore, U.S. president Joe Biden continues to blame high gas prices on Vladimir Putin.

Vladimir Putin Says the West’s Sanctions Obviously ‘Did Not Succeed’


Against the U.S. dollar, the Russian ruble has been performing at the strongest level since May 2015 and it has been said by a number of people that Western sanctions have failed. At the annual St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, Russian president Vladimir Putin said attempts to destroy the Russian economy did not come to fruition. “The idea was clear: crush the Russian economy violently,” Putin declared. “They did not succeed. Obviously, that didn’t happen.” Traditionally, when a country is sanctioned broadly by a majority of countries, capital leaves the region and the currency’s overall value against other fiat currencies would decline.

However, Russia is the second-largest exporter of oil and commands the top position as the world’s biggest gas exporter as well. America and the European Union (EU) are trying awfully hard to sanction Russia but the EU is forced to purchase gas and oil from the country in not-so-obvious ways. Fortune India claims that India is ostensibly buying oil from the Russian Federation and selling it back to the EU for a profit. The New York Post details that analysts believe the ruble’s strong performance is due to the Kremlin’s capital controls and the fact that oil and gas prices have skyrocketed worldwide. In addition to India, China and South Korea have been purchasing oil from Russia.

A study published by Bloomberg Economics estimates that Putin could amass roughly $321 billion in profits from energy exports alone. Tatiana Orlova, a lead emerging markets economist at Oxford Economics told CBS, however, that Russia’s import markets are crumbling at the seams. “Apart from soaring export revenues, we have a collapse in Russian imports owing to Western sanctions,” Orlova noted during an interview with CBS Money Watch. Max Hess, a fellow at the Foreign Policy Research Institute, told CNBC that Russia is still earning record profits. Hess said:

That exchange rate you see for the ruble is there because Russia is earning record current account surpluses in foreign exchange. Although Russia may be selling slightly less to the West right now, as the West moves to cutting off [reliance on Russia], they are still selling a ton at all-time high oil and gas prices. So this is bringing in a big current account surplus.

Service Providers Refuse to Update ATMs in Russia, Biden Says Americans Will Have to Pay High Gas Prices ‘as Long as It Takes’ to Stop Putin’s Ukraine Invasion


Meanwhile, the U.S. and various Western corporations are doing everything they can to stifle the Russian economy. Just recently, the country’s central bank introduced the new 100-ruble banknote but automated teller machines (ATMs) are having issues with the new bill. Western sanctions have pushed ATM companies like NCR and Diebold Nixdorf to exit Russia. Allegedly, ATM service providers are refusing to update the ATMs and the machines reject the new banknotes. According to an unnamed source from the payments industry, Russian ATMs are not a priority. “Given the geopolitical situation, it is difficult to imagine that development for the Russian market will be a priority,” the source familiar with the matter explained.

On June 30, American president Joe Biden was asked at a NATO summit press conference how long American drivers will have to pay high gas prices at the pump. Biden said that it will take “as long as it takes” to stop Putin’s Ukraine invasion. “As long as it takes, so Russia cannot, in fact, defeat Ukraine and move beyond Ukraine,” Biden told the reporter. A Fortune report explains that American citizens “don’t seem to be on board” with Biden’s decisions. The report cites the latest Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll which shows a lack of confidence in Biden’s leadership.

In terms of handling the U.S. economy, 70% of Americans, including 43% of Democrats, do not approve of Biden’s management. 60% of Americans do not approve of Biden’s leadership, 80% of U.S. citizens think America’s “economic conditions [are] poor,” and 67% of the 80% identified as Democrats. Biden and his administration, however, wholeheartedly believe that Putin is to blame for the world’s rising gas prices. “We could have turned a blind eye to Putin’s barbaric war against Ukraine and the price of gas wouldn’t have spiked the way it has, but America rose to the moment,” Biden said on June 27.

What do you think about the strength of the Russian ruble and Biden saying that Americans must put up with high gas prices because of Putin’s war? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Russian Ruble Taps 7-Year High Against the US Dollar — Economist Says ‘Don’t Ignore the Exchange Rate’

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Recent news reports have detailed that Russia’s fiat currency, the ruble, was the best-performing currency worldwide and the articles explained that American economists were perplexed by the trend. On Monday, the Russian ruble rose to 55.47 per dollar, which was the highest increase since 2015. While many have dismissed the ruble’s exchange rate, Charles Lichfield, the Atlantic Council’s Geoeconomics Center deputy director, published an editorial called: “Don’t ignore the exchange rate: How a strong ruble can shield Russia.”

Russia’s Ruble Climbs Higher — Report Says ‘Putin Is Having the Last Laugh’


The financial sanctions against Russia are seemingly not affecting the transcontinental country as much as Western media has portrayed during the past few months. On Monday, the Russian ruble tapped a price high against the U.S. dollar and it was the highest rise since 2015. There have been many reports from economists and analysts that have said Russia’s financial books are cooked and most of the ruble’s strength is simply smoke and mirrors. One Youtuber claims that while the ruble looks strong, most of the strength is bolstered by manipulation.

Youtuber Jake Broe told his 146,000 subscribers that the “Russian economy is currently tanking, inflation is high, unemployment is going up, wages are going down, the GDP of the Russian economy is collapsing.” However, Broe’s arguments could also be said about the United States as the American economy seems to be heading toward a recession, inflation is the highest in 40 years, jobless claims in the U.S. have risen as productivity is down, and the U.S. economy’s GDP shrank significantly in Q1 2022.

Broe says that the Russian government and central bank are manipulating things, which has made the ruble look strong. Yet, arguably, U.S. politicians and the Federal Reserve could also be accused of manipulation and spreading unreliable information. Other reports that do not leverage Broe’s biased talking points indicate that sanctions against Russia have failed miserably. A report published by armstrongeconomics.com says the Russian oil boycott is not working and “Putin is having the last laugh as he is now selling more oil at a higher price point.”

Armstrongeconomics.com author Martin Armstrong added:

In April, Russian oil exports rose by 620,000 b/d to 8.1 million b/d. India (+730,000 b/d) and Turkey (+180,000 b/d) helped to offset the international embargo, while the EU remained the largest importer despite a sharp reduction in shipments. The IEA reported that Russian oil exports rose over 50% YoY during the first four months of the year — The boycott has completely backfired on the West and has helped strengthen the Russian economy.

Report Shows India Buys Oil From Russia, Refines It, Then Sells It to Europe for Profit — European Union Commission President Predicts Oil Sanctions Could Backfire


Additionally, Russia has been keeping its financial dealings obscure as the country announced monthly figures on government spending would no longer be disclosed. Russia’s Finance Ministry told the press the country needed to “minimize the risk of the imposition of additional sanctions.” Bitcoin.com News reported two weeks ago that numerous countries are not adhering to the West’s sanctions and have been purchasing oil from the Russian Federation. For instance, India is reportedly obtaining oil from Russia and after the oil is refined, the country has been selling it to Europe for a profit.

China has been purchasing oil from Russia as well, and a number of oil refineries are forced to purchase oil from the transcontinental country. For instance, Italy’s largest refinery ISAB has been forced to source crude oil from Russia because banks stopped providing the company with credit. China is the largest single buyer of Russian oil and has been since 2021, and data shows the country obtains 1.6 million barrels per day from Russia on average. Meanwhile, oil is becoming scarcer in Europe as warnings say Britain could face massive grid blackouts. The financial newspaper the Economist insists Europe is suffering through “a severe energy-price shock”

Moreover, two weeks ago, Charles Lichfield, the Atlantic Council’s Geoeconomics Center deputy director, published an editorial that says people should not dismiss the ruble exchange rate. Lichfield’s article says Western governments claimed that eventually, Russia’s economy would ultimately fail but he thinks things need to be reassessed. “The Russian financial system may have withstood the initial shock — but a fall in gross domestic product (GDP) and crippling input shortages, they claimed, would force Moscow to eventually de-escalate as the war entered a grinding phase — But it’s time to reassess this stance,” Lichfield wrote.

Government officials predicted that the energy sanctions could backfire and may not necessarily work. During an interview in May, the European Union Commission president Ursula Von Der Leyen described how the energy sanctions could backfire. Von Der Leyen said that if countries “immediately” sanctioned Russian oil imports, Vladimir Putin “would be able to take the oil that he does not sell to the European Union to the world market, where the prices will increase, and [he will] sell it for more.”

What do you think about the Russian ruble’s market performance and the theories on why it is doing so well? Do you think the Russian ruble is being propped up by the country’s officials or do you think the fiat currency is strong? Let us know what you think about this subject in the comments section below.

Bitriver to Mine Crypto Using Excess Gas From Gazprom Neft’s Oil Extraction

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Bitriver to Mine Crypto Using Excess Gas From Gazprom Neft’s Oil Extraction

Russian crypto mining operator Bitriver will use electricity generated from associated gas provided by Gazprom Neft to mint digital coins. As part of a new agreement, the mining company will in return develop the digital infrastructure at the oil producer’s wells in Russia.

Crypto Mining Operator Bitriver to Cooperate With Russian Oil Giant Gazprom Neft

Russia’s third largest oil producer, Gazprom Neft, will power data centers operated by the country’s leading crypto mining company, Bitriver. The electricity needed for the production of digital currencies will be generated using associated petroleum gas, a form of natural gas found with oil deposits.

The arrangement is part of a memorandum of cooperation signed by the two companies during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, RBC Crypto reported, quoting a Bitriver representative. The announcement comes after the Russian mining operator was recently placed under U.S. sanctions.

In accordance with the agreement, the mining firm will develop the digital infrastructure at Gazprom Neft’s oil fields and provide services relying on computing hardware, the report details.

Gazprom Neft’s business model does not encompass digital currencies but the oil giant is seeking solutions that would allow the “beneficial use” of the associated gas obtained during oil extraction.

The infrastructure necessary to utilize the associated gas for the energy-intensive mining of crypto assets has been built already at Gazprom Neft enterprises in three Russian regions.

Gazprom Neft is the oil subsidiary of the Russian state-controlled natural gas giant Gazprom. Initial reports that the company is offering bitcoin miners an opportunity to use the excess gas from oil drilling came out in January, last year. U.S. companies have been using stranded gas to mint crypto, too.

Oil-rich Oman announced a plan to employ associated gas to mine bitcoin, with the goal of reducing harmful emissions into the atmosphere where this gas is usually vented or burned. The country bought a $350-million stake in the U.S. firm Crusoe Energy Systems Inc., which specializes in crypto mining with energy from excess fuel.

Do you expect other oil companies to start cooperating with cryptocurrency miners to utilize associated petroleum gas? Tell us in the comments section below.

Gilded Age Greed and Golden Bitcoin

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Fiat is a gilded currency, centralized protocols are gilded projects and society is witnessing the proverbial paint chipping away. Bitcoin is golden.

Dr. Riste Simnjanovski is a tenured professor of public administration at California Baptist University. Most recently, his published research explores digital assets in the public and private sectors.

In 1873, Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner copublished the novel, “The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today.” While the text doesn’t receive the recognition it should, possibly as a result of the direct attack on American politics, it’s a brilliant piece of literature that Bitcoiners may find amusing. In any event, I strongly encourage readers to take a peek at it. The correlations to what Americans face in 21st-century politics seems to overwhelmingly mirror history. In my opinion, the correlations to Bitcoin are easy to spot.

One of my favorite Twain quotes states, “Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress, but I repeat myself …”

Twain, and the lesser-known Warner, had a knack for satire in a way that was a bit offensive and vulgar at the time, if not compelling and true, to a fault. If Twain had a Twitter account, he’d have millions of followers and perhaps an equal amount of vocal objectors.

The deeply-rooted corruption of American politics at every level is pervasive and systemic. All perspectives agree that corruption exists, government officials pick winners and losers in business and business returns the favor by financing their next “elected” official. The irony is that the actual era, i.e., post-Civil War America, is now literally defined as “The Gilded Age” taken directly from Twain and Warner’s satirical book.

The process of gilding is pretty straightforward: you take something of little or no value and apply color to it in order to create the illusion of wealth. One might imagine a tin coin, painted with a golden hue to resemble a gold coin.

At the time, what on the surface appeared to be a booming economic and industrial era for all of America was, well, gilded. There were massive disparities between the wealthy and the poor as well as a heavy focus on materialism in some circles.

The wealthy financed their empires on the backs of the poor, as did local and national politicians; one might argue that not much has changed today. In that way of financing, wealth gaps grew and lavish lifestyles that were thrust in the face of a starving working class bubbled over. What appeared golden on the surface was worthless underneath. How often have we witnessed politicians pass laws that eventually turn tax dollars into dividend payments for their personal portfolios?

Do not allow your business professors to preach that this era was the economic boom of a lifetime in America — these moments defined greed, slavery and corruption. Regular Americans had little to no recourse. If Bitcoin were around during the Gilded Age, the government itself may have been considered a shitcoin. Most recently, the collapse of Luna is a reminder of this corruption and greed. As always, Bitcoin is different and the significance of this will only be more brightly illuminated when more centralized scam projects collapse in a cascade of carnage. Regardless of what side of the aisle you’re on, if you’re targeting the opposing side, you’re not paying attention; greed is apolitical.

Between the years of 1870 to 1900, the world took notice that America was booming (for some). As a result, a massive migration west took place. Native Brits, Scots and others braved horrific sea and land journeys in an attempt of securing an opportunity of new prosperity. Unfortunately, many of these talents were wasted as immigrants mostly worked for massive corporations such as John D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil, Cornelius Vanderbilt’s railroads and Andrew Carnegie’s Carnegie Steel Company. (In case you were unaware, Carnegie Steel Company eventually became J.P. Morgan’s U.S. Steel monopoly … and oil tycoons also have deep roots in Big Pharma. There is a reason many medical field products have a petroleum base. Just saying … but let’s get back to Bitcoin.)

Perhaps Twain and Warner were on to something in their acknowledgment of the inequalities during this period in time. The Gilded Age was, in many respects, political corruption masquerading as freedom and opportunity. Has anything changed or have the veils and tactics simply been updated?

There is a popular phrase in the Bitcoin community that states, “Fix the money, fix the world.” What if Bitcoin existed at that time and any excess currency earned by laborers could have been stored, immune to political corruption, confiscation, inflation or political party? Technologically, all that existed at the time was gold and silver, yet many of the poorest people of the nation could not even buy fractions of coins; in Bitcoin, buying fractions of coins is possible.

I would propose that fiat is a gilded currency, that centralized protocols are gilded projects and that society is witnessing, in real time, the proverbial paint chipping away. The unhappiness society is facing isn’t with one another as the media forces us to believe; the unhappiness is with the realization that what we’ve been sold and the currency we need to purchase it, is all gilded. Many politicians themselves are gilded. If fiat personalities were a thing, they’d have followers on Twitter lusting over their golden hue.

Yes, fiat currencies are important as a medium of exchange, but they are (and will continue to forever be) a terrible store of value. The deflationary aspects of Bitcoin, specifically, the fact that there will only ever be 21 million bitcoin and that every four years the reward for mining the coins is cut in half, only make the asset more pristine to people who do not own any bitcoin as they reflect on history and become exposed to Bitcoin. The economic crash that has been occurring throughout 2022 will only mint more Bitcoiners.

Bitcoin fixes money with no gilding required. However, can Bitcoin also address an unfulfilled soul by providing humanity an opportunity to seek their true purpose? My recent assumption is a society untrusting of a gilded reality, may have also questioned their own existence.

In previous articles and a book, I’ve addressed an unfulfilled soul, but how can fixing money help the soul or address this issue of a gilded world? I would propose that these concepts are not interdependent, but they may be interconnected. Yes, corrupt people with more resources will spread corruption; but what of good people?

What if good people, with good intentions, strong values and a solid moral compass had access to the same resources the robber barons did during the Gilded Age?

What would the world look like? What about politics? Business? Industry? Your family?

I suggest that the quiet bitcoin community (QBCs are the ones not trending on Twitter) is going to forge a new route for the next generation as they turn their backs on centralized projects and adopt Bitcoin.

These newly-minted Bitcoiners are not gilded, they’re real, and they’re genuinely disheartened with scam projects and centralized greed. Many in the “crypto community” are becoming Bitcoiners as they watch the paint chip away.

This is a guest post by Dr. Riste Simnjanovski. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc. or Bitcoin Magazine.

These Public Oil Companies Are Joining Forces With Bitcoin Miners To Reshape The Industry

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As more major oil and gas operations partner with bitcoin miners, it’s clear that this magic internet money is transforming energy.

One of the world’s largest industries — oil and gas — is converging with magic internet money infrastructure, but bitcoin’s prolonged market selloff has taken some of the shine off of these monumental partnerships. Some cryptocurrency traders are even facetiously asking if energy will be a new bullish narrative for Bitcoin, bringing wind to fill its metaphorical sails as the leading cryptocurrency sits over 50% below its record price highs from late 2021.

Jokes aside, the “energy narrative” for bitcoin mining is real and gaining momentum as a growing list of mining companies and energy producers join forces. Assessing the short-term price implications of these partnerships are well outside the scope of this article, but the long-term benefits for bitcoin mining as an industry and the broader bitcoin economy are enormous. This article overviews the partnerships that are leading the merge between bitcoin mining and oil companies, and it offers some summary analysis into the specifics of why these corporate unions matter.

North American Mining Partnerships

In the news media and general discourse, the focus on partnerships between miners and oil companies has primarily centered on North America. Most of this attention is being paid here for good reason as several of the biggest names in the oil industry are working with North American miners.

In 2021, ExxonMobil reported annual revenue of more than $285 billion with global daily production during the same period reaching more than two million barrels per day of oil and gas. This titan of the oil industry is also reportedly working with a bitcoin mining company in North Dakota to turn otherwise wasted gas into energy for mining operations. This news spread like wildfire through the Bitcoin community when it was first published, but some off-grid mining teams already knew of Exxon’s relationships with miners. In August 2021, for example, Giga Energy co-founder Matt Lohstroh said Exxon was already selling some gas to miners.

But as the premise of this article suggests, Exxon is far from the only oil company dealing with miners.

ConocoPhillips is also supplying gas to bitcoin miners, which has been widely reported by various mainstream media outlets, including CNBC and Bloomberg.

Marathon Oil, a multi-billion-dollar oil company based in Houston, also powers co-located bitcoin mining operations with its gas. On its website’s page about emissions control, Marathon indicates it uses gas “that would otherwise be flared due to lack of a gas connection or gas takeaway capacity constraints [to] generate electricity to power co-located computing and data centers used for Bitcoin mining.”

EOG Resources, another American oil company, is also rumored to be dealing with miners by members of the industry, although official deals have not yet been reported.

And Texas Pacific Land recently signed a deal with two mining companies, Mawson and JAI Energy, to begin what JAI Energy co-founder Ryan Leachman called “the biggest bitcoin related announcement in oil and gas to date.”

International Mining Partnerships

American companies aren’t the only ones making headlines for their bitcoin-and-oil deals though. A subsidiary of the Russian oil giant Gazprom has been planning and building its own bitcoin mining venture on its oil drilling sites since late 2020.

Below the equator, oil wells in remote areas of Australia are being used by Canadian gas company Bengal Energy to power bitcoin mining machines. According to a report from The Australian, Bengal CEO Kai Eberspaecher said his team is “dealing with stranded assets,” adding that, “We were basically looking at six months of having wells ready but without an outlet.”

That sounds like a perfect fit for some off-grid hashing.

Why These Partnerships Matter

Bitcoin mining as an industry gains mainstream legitimacy as more traditional energy companies start to work with bitcoin miners. Even though the total magnitude of ongoing partnerships is small relative to the entire mining industry, let alone the global energy market, the significance of these first few deals cannot be understated. Exxon and others are sprinkling legitimacy on a historically maligned, misunderstood and shadowed industry. These are some of the biggest names in oil and gas production working with companies who manage computing power for a barely-decade-and-a-half-old magic internet money industry. Even four years ago, the idea of all of these names inking contracts with mining companies would be nearly unbelievable. Other metaphorical dominos will inevitably fall soon.

Related to its legitimacy is the effect that these partnerships have on bitcoin mining taking a place as energy infrastructure on or off the electric grid. Speaking to the audience at Bitcoin 2022, Paul Prager, CEO of the public mining company TeraWulf, said, “Bitcoin mining is energy infrastructure. That’s what it is.”

That notion is hard to ignore as corporate energy titans sign deals with bitcoin miners. Of course, these mining partnerships occupy a very small share of Bitcoin’s total hash rate, but that share is sure to grow in the coming years.

Where Every Major Oil Producer Is A Bitcoin Miner

A future where every major oil producer is also a bitcoin miner — or at least operates a bitcoin mining arm — is very easy to imagine and could become reality soon. Particularly for the oil and gas industry, bitcoin miners continue to make inroads with more reported deals between these two industries. The milestones that these partnerships represent would be nearly unimaginable three to five years ago.

Even though bitcoin’s price is well off its record highs, the future for the infrastructure undergirding the Bitcoin network is brighter than ever. The union between oil producers and bitcoin miners is just beginning.

This is a guest post by Zack Voell. Opinions expressed are entirely their own and do not necessarily reflect those of BTC Inc or Bitcoin Magazine.