INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Ruble denominated Bitcoin trading pairs saw a higher growth by "magnitude" on March 5.Russian investors appear to continue to conduct
transactions in Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies even with tightening sanctions.While the overall flows appear to be relatively small,
data from blockchain analytics firm Kaiko show that ruble-denominated Bitcoin trading volume rose Saturday to its highest level this year
Meanwhile, the majority of the ruble-denominated crypto trading volume appears to be conducted with the Tether stablecoin, which claims to
The average trade size of Bitcoin ruble transaction on Binance hit a 10-month high of roughly $580 on February 24, when Russia invaded
development manager of crypto algorithmic trading firm Efficient Frontier
Bitcoin's average daily trading volume varies between $20 billion to $40 billion
On March 5, the total trading volume of BTC/RUB was about $14.2 million, Kaiko said.Only three global crypto exchanges, Binance, Yobit, and
LocalBitcoins, offer ruble-denominated crypto trading pairs, according to Kaiko's newsletter dated on March 7.While exchanges including
Binance and Coinbase said that they would not ban ordinary Russians from using their service, there have been a growing effort to block
users related the sanctioned individuals and entities
Coinbase, for example, reported that they blocked over 25,000 addresses related to the sanction list.Small AmountsCaroline Bowler, chief
executive of Australian crypto exchange BTC Markets, said her company is blocking Russian entities that are under sanctions
specifics.The efforts to cut off crypto as a sanctions workaround follow the sweeping penalties imposed on Russia by the United States and
its allies, including a move to bar some banks from the SWIFT messaging system that connects financial institutions worldwide
The moves also underscore the significant role that digital assets are playing in a conflict testing global security.Paolo Ardoino, chief
