Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and the subsequent backlash of economic sanctions against the country, has reportedly resulted in ruble trading pairs surging on the cryptocurrency market.
According to a report by Frank Chaparro for The Block that was published on March 1, Russian investors are becoming increasingly active on crypto exchanges. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine began, the average volume of ruble pairs on crypto exchange Binance have increased to an average of $35.8 million per day, compared to $11 million per day previously.
The report claims the surge in activity reflects crypto exchanges as one of the few outlets for Russian citizens to move their quickly devaluing currency.
An anonymous exchange executive told The Block,
Exchanges that allow onboarding of RUB pairs will see a huge demand, given that is almost the only way to get out of RUB for many (banks shut down fx facilities).
The report claims that crypto exchanges offer a form of oasis from financial restrictions, with several top operators–including Binance and Coinbase rejecting requests form the Ukrainian government to enact blanket bans on Russian users.
The results of the economic sanctions on Russia’s economy are already evident, with the VanEck Russian ETF losing more than 60% of its value in February and the ruble falling to below $0.01 last week.
Dislcaimer
The views and opinions expressed by the author, or any people mentioned in this article, are for informational purposes only, and they do not constitute financial, investment, or other advice. Investing in or trading cryptoassets comes with a risk of financial loss.
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