RIYADH: Russia is considering accepting Bitcoin as payment for its oil and gas exports, BBC reported citing a high-ranking lawmaker. The head of the country’s energy committee, Pavel Zavalny, says “friendly” countries could be allowed to pay in the crypto-currency or in their local currencies. Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin said that he wanted “unfriendly” countries to buy its gas with rubles. Bank of England regulates crypto The Bank of England on Thursday began sketching out Britain’s first regulatory framework for crypto assets, amid concerns they could be used to circumvent financial sanctions imposed on Russia since its invasion of Ukraine, Reuters reported. Although the sector remained small, its rapid growth could pose risks to financial stability in future if left unregulated, the bank said. Crypto assets, such as Bitcoin and ether, are largely unregulated and a change of law would be needed to bring them under the full scope of UK securities rules, a step Britain’s finance ministry is looking at. DeFi Platform Most DeFi services replicate more traditional financial services and activities, but with weaker regulation and increased risks for investors, the International Organization of Securities Commissions said in a report. Risks surrounding DeFi include lack of disclosure of products and systems, patchy reliability of the DeFi sites and potential problems in operating at scale, according to IOSCO. IOSCO is made up of securities regulators from the US, Europe and Asia. Bitcoin traded higher at 10:00 a.m. Saudi time – rising by 2.04 percent to $44,046, while Ether went up by 2.66 percent to $3,136.