Bitcoin has leapt since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, bolstered by people in those countries looking to store and move money in anonymous and decentralised crypto.
Bitcoin trading denominated in the Russian rouble went into overdrive when the invasion began on Thursday, with daily volumes rising 259% from a day earlier to 1.3 billion rouble ($13.1 million), according to data from CryptoCompare.
In Ukraine, meanwhile, crypto exchange Kuna saw its daily trading volume more than treble to 150 million hryvnias ($5 million).
Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.comRegisterBea O’Carroll, managing director at Radkl, a digital asset investment firm, said the war and Western sanctions had seen a trend emerge of bitcoin being used to transfer value.
In the five days since Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, bitcoin has risen 13%, while the S&P 500 U.S. stock index that it often mimics is up around 2% and traditional safety play gold is now largely flat after gaining as much as 3.5% on the day of the invasion.
Discover more from LN247
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
