As the Biden administration slaps economic sanctions against Russia to contain the crisis in Ukraine, Russia is using various cryptocurrency tools to maintain access to foreign capital. As Russia attacked Ukraine, cryptocurrency prices fell sharply. On Thursday morning, Bitcoin prices declined to more than 8%, to settle at $34,702.18, marking its lowest level in around a month. Ether fell more than 8% to trade around $2,407.47. Related Reading | Quant Explains How Bitcoin NUPL Can Help Predict Bull Cycles That’s A Lot Of Money Economists have approximated that the U.S. sanctions would cost Russia around $50 billion annually. However, the Russian government seemed to have prepared themselves for the worst by connecting with financial networks who are willing to work with them. One of which is linking with digital currency firms who do not undergo any government regulation and function independently on blockchains. “Russia has had a lot of time to think about this specific consequence. It would be naïve to think that they haven’t gamed out exactly this scenario,” Michael Parker, a former federal prosecutor in an interview with the New York Times, said. BTC total market cap at $670.906 billion in the daily chart | Source: TradingView.com Using Cryptocurrency Tools Vs. Sanctions Economic sanctions are some of the most powerful suppression tools that many Western countries have used in times of war and crises. Durin...
