Bitcoin trading volumes against the Russian ruble reportedly soared to the highest level in almost a year. At the same time, those employing Ukraine’s hryvnia reached October 2021 heights.
The result of embargoes?
NATO and the EU always steer clear of direct military conflict and have vowed not to send troops to Ukraine. However, they imposed severe monetary sanctions on Russia, aimed at destabilizing it and cutting its financial ties with the Western world.
The embargoes slammed Russia’s economy and, especially, the country’s national currency. The ruble lost around 25% of its value in a matter of 24 hours.
Unlike fiat currency, cryptocurrency market data provider – Kaiko – revealed that bitcoin is gaining momentum in the region after the sanctions. BTC trading volumes against the ruble hit their highest level since May 2021, while those using the Ukrainian hryvnia surpassed the October peak. Clara Medalie, head of research at Kaiko, commented on this:
“The trend follows a wave of sanctions against Russia, which has disrupted forex markets and caused the ruble to sink to records law against the dollar.”
Medalie noted that overall bitcoin trading volume has also skyrocketed over the past seven days. She added that the increased activity for the BTC/UAH and BTC/RUB trading pairs was “bigger” than that of BTC/USD.
Experts believe that the financial uncertainty in the region will cause Russians to potentially convert their money into digital assets. On that note, Ukraine’s Vice PM urged crypto exchanges to freeze addresses of Russian-based users.
Some major trading platforms have already announced that they will not act on such requests. Kraken CEO Jesse Powell pointed out that bitcoin is the representation of libertarian values and therefore his company cannot freeze customer accounts without legal obligation. He also assumed that many Russian-based users would likely be against the war.
At the same time, Binance said, “crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom,” and such an initiative could oppose the concept of the asset class.
BTC is also attractive in Turkey
Speaking of countries that are going through financial turmoil, it is worth mentioning Turkey. Last year, the Turkish lira crashed to record lows, prompting many locals to seek other monetary tools to preserve their savings. As such, they turned to crypto.
A research from the end of 2021 disclosed that Bitcoin (BTC) and Tether (USDT) were the most popular trades against the lira for the past three years. The study further estimated that more than 16% of the world’s crypto users came from Turkey (occupying the fourth position for the most traders globally).
