Russian crypto trading has dropped by half on key exchanges.
Despite further economic penalties on Russia, the volume of cryptocurrency purchased in rubles on key exchanges continues to decline.
Data from blockchain-analysis firms suggest that Russian-denominated crypto purchases and trade on key exchanges have slowed, putting to rest ideas that the government may turn to digital assets to avoid sanctions.
When Bitcoin surged more than 15% last week, several industry analysts blamed it on Russians buying cryptocurrencies in the face of escalating economic sanctions. However, figures from Chainalysis reveal that the volume of ruble-denominated crypto trade activity was just $34.1 million on March 3, less than half of the previous week’s record of $70.7 million on Feb. 24.
Citigroup analyst Alexander Saunders told Bloomberg that “Russian volumes have been rather minor thus far, suggesting that the price action is primarily attributable to speculators preparing for a predicted spike in demand from Russia, rather than Russian demand itself.”
Despite experts dismissing the notion that cryptocurrency may be used to assist Russia avoid economic sanctions, the United States and the European Union are strengthening regulatory surveillance of digital assets.
Recently, the state of New York enhanced its blockchain monitoring capabilities in order to further prohibit cryptocurrencies or digital assets from being used to assist Russian goals.
To emphasise the opposite side of the story, Jake Chervinsky, head of policy at the Blockchain Association in the United States, went so far as to label these fears about cryptocurrency “completely false.”
Ari Redbord, head of legal and government affairs at crypto crime investigator TRM Labs, echoed this sentiment, stating that it is too late for crypto assets to provide enough liquidity for Russia and that the public nature of blockchains is already a sufficient deterrent for those seeking to circumvent sanctions.
Many of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchanges have opted to blacklist sanctioned persons and organisations in the wake of impending regulatory action from the international community. Binance, on the other hand, has refused to restrict the accounts of “innocent” Russian consumers.
