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Bitcoin commercial volumes against the Russian ruble would have risen to the highest level in almost a year. At the same time, those who employ Ukraine hryvnia peaked October 2021.
The outcome of the embargoes?
NATO and the EU stand by a direct military conflict and have promised not to send troops to Ukraine. However, they imposed severe monetary sanctions on Russia, aiming to destabilize it and cut its financial connection with the Western world.
Embargoes have hit the Russian economy and, most importantly, the country's national currency. The ruble lost around 25% of its value in a matter of 24 hours.
Contrary to the fiat currency, the cryptocurrency market data provider – Kaiko – revealed that bitcoin is gaining traction in the region after the sanctions. Volumes traded for the ruble reached their highest level since May 2021, while those using Ukrainian hryvnia exceeded the October peak. Clara Medalie, Kaiko's chief research officer:
"The trend follows a wave of sanctions against Russia, which has disturbed foreign exchange markets and caused the ruble to sink to the law of records against the dollar."
Medalie noted that the global trade volume of Bitcoin has also surged over the past seven days. She added that the increased activity for btc/uah and btc/rub trading pairs was "magnitudes greater" than btc/usd.
Experts think that financial uncertainty in the region will lead Russians to convert their money into digital assets. On that note, Ukraine’s Vice PM urged crypto exchanges to freeze addresses of Russian-based users.
Some prominent trading venues have already announced that they will not follow such demands. Kraken’s CEO Jesse Powell emphasized that bitcoin is the representation of libertarian values, and thus his company cannot block customers’ accounts without a legal requirement. He also assumed that many users based in Russia are likely to be anti-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 Attractive in Turkey, Too
Speaking of countries that are passing through financial turmoil, it is worth mentioning Turkey. Last year, the Turkish lira collapsed to record levels, which led many people to seek other monetary tools to preserve their savings. As such, they have turned towards cryptography.
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 over 16% of the world's crypto users came from Turkey (ranking fourth for most traders in the world).
