After Ukraine’s central bank imposed a limit on cash withdrawals, Kuna, a cryptocurrency exchange that provides trades in ruble and hryvnia saw a notable surge in volume. Moreover, to this day, crypto-assets being swapped on Kuna such as bitcoin, tether, and ethereum are trading for a significant premium.
Crypto in Ukraine Sees Bounties
The ongoing conflict continues in Ukraine after Russian troops invaded the territory. The United Nations (UN) estimates that around 100,000 Ukrainian citizens have fled the country in the past 24 hours.
Following the Russian invasion, two days ago, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) implemented a daily cash withdrawal cap of 100,000 hryvnias ($3,350). The NBU invoked the mandate on February 24, after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky imposed martial law.
Hot on the heels of the NBU’s limit mandate on cash withdrawals, cryptocurrency exchange Kuna saw trading volume increase by $3.5 million on Thursday. Trading volume on Kuna rose from $1.4 million to a high of $4.8 million, with most trading pairs in hryvnia (UAH).
Volume remains higher on Kuna as volume on the crypto exchange was $780 million six days ago, but today, Kuna’s exchange volume is $1.4 million. Not only does the exchange allow trading in hryvnia (UAH), traders can also swap coins in ruble (RUB).
There is also a premium on bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH) and tether (USDT) on the Kuna exchange, as tether is traded at $1.08 per token at the time of writing. Outside Ukraine, at the same time, tether (USDT) is trading hands for $0.99 per coin.
On Kuna, leveraging the hryvnia (UAH) pair, a single ethereum (ETH) is currently swapping for $2,982.83 per unit, while outside Ukraine ETH trades for $2,770 per unit.
Bitcoin (BTC) is trading hands for $42,106 when traded with the hryvnia (UAH) pair, as the premium is $3,124 more expensive than the crypto asset outside Kuna’s platform.
Localbitcoins.com bitcoin (BTC) prices are also seeing a premium as some sellers are selling for prices as high as 1,296,879.12 UAH/BTC or $43,480 per coin. However, localbitcoins.com metrics for this week show trade volume in Ukraine is currently lower than usual.
Similarly, localbitcoins.com has not seen any significant increase in BTC trading volume in Russia. When it comes to Kuna, there is a RUB/BTC premium as BTC trades for $40,705 or 3,414,848 RUB. ETH/RUB on Kuna also has a premium but not as high as the premium for ether hryvnia (UAH) swaps.
