The cryptocurrency craze has spread to countries across Europe as people search for ways to protect their money from war-torn nations. Data from the crypto tracking site Kaiko shows that ruble and Ukrainian hryvnia-to-crypto volumes have shot up in recent days, reaching multi-month highs. Related Reading | Bitcoin Staggers After Putin’s Nuclear Deterrence Alert Warning The data show that trading volumes in the ruble-bitcoin (BTC-RUB) pair are at historic high levels. Last time we saw the same level was in May 2021. The increase in Ruble-denominated Bitcoin (BTC) trade volumes is thanks largely to the recent strengthening of Russia’s currency. On February 24th, just days before tougher economic sanctions were set to go into effect and effectively cut off Russian banks from SWIFT system payments processing capabilities. As a result, BTC traded on local exchanges skyrocketed by 1.5 billion RUB. Investors in Ukraine were equally nervous. The bitcoin-Ukrainian hryvnia (BTC-UAH) pair spikes over the week, even though still low according to Kaiko’s Medalie, who said that traders have been coming into buying cryptocurrency as a hedge against potential economic chaos caused by Western sanctions. It seems that the markets are taking notice of what’s going on in Eastern Europe. Tether-ruble and tether hryvnia trading volumes had also increased relative to an invasion. Recently, the cryptocurrency world has been experiencing a ...
