Russian Ruble to Bitcoin Trading Volumes Surge

Russians are increasingly turning to Bitcoin as the Russian ruble continues to fall in value due to sanctions from the invasion of Ukraine.

The ruble has depreciated to record lows, falling over 34% in value in the past week as the Russian central bank was cut off from the SWIFT global bank payment system.

The threat of increasing sanctions along with the freezing and seizure of Russian assets held abroad may be pushing the Russian population to turn to financial investments that can retain value as their native currency and financial systems deteriorate.

According to French data analytics platform Kaiko, trading volumes between the Russian ruble and bitcoin continue to surge to 9 month highs as the population desperately attempts to hold onto the value of their assets.

A major reason behind the Russian flight to Bitcoin is crypto’s greater level of liquidity, where users can buy and sell into FIAT currencies such as the ruble or the U.S. dollar whenever they choose. Reports indicate that Russia’s central bank has ordered securities brokers to halt sales in an effort to halt the hemorrhaging of the Russian economy. Limitations on ATM and bank withdrawals in Russia have been put into place as well, preventing Russians from being able to completely access their financial accounts whenever they want.

Cryptocurrency exchanges, for the most part, have taken a different stance compared to traditional banks and financial payment systems that have complied with international sanctions. Binance, Coinbase, and several other major crypto exchanges have stated they would not “unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts” as part of the greater international community’s demands. While there is certainly valid concerns that Bitcoin may be used by Russia to circumvent economic sanctions that are put into place to deter aggressive actions such as unjust invasions of neighboring countries, the fact that Bitcoin cannot be controlled by a single country or even by the international community only serves to strengthen one of its major underlying qualities - a digital currency that is censorship resistant where payment transactions cannot be halted or muted.