Crypto continues to rise…1 Mar 2022 07:10
Crypto continues to rise … google for possible rationales…
“ Russians worried about the stability of their currency and financial system may see bitcoin as a way to protect their savings, he said. ”
Conversions between bitcoin and both the Russian ruble and Ukranian hyrvnia spiked to their highest levels in months immediately after Vladimir Putin ordered the invasion last week, according to data released Monday by Kaiko Research.
“We see some evidence of an increase in bitcoin-ruble volume,” Blockchain.com research chief Garrick Hileman told The Post, cautioning that it was unclear if Monday’s price movements could be completely attributed to such trades.
“There’s certainly a big uptick there compared to what the norm was historically,” said Hileman, who’s also a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. “Is it significant enough to kind of move the price to this degree? Can’t say.”
Hileman added that bitcoin’s surge could also potentially be attributed to people converting fiat into cryptocurrencies in order to donate to the Ukrainian military and Ukrainian charities, which have raised more than $22 million in crypto over the past five days, according to data from crypto compliance firm Elliptic.
Ukrainian Territorial Defense fighters test the automatic grenade launcher taken from a destroyed Russian infantry mobility vehicle.
Russia-Ukraine news: 70 Ukrainian soldiers killed in artillery strike, says official
It could also potential be due to non-war-related factors like a short squeeze, he said.
“It’s very hard to make a clear interpretation here,” he said.
Many major crypto exchanges including Coinbase and FTX do not operate in Russia. Therefore, many Russians have turned to Cayman Islands-based Binance, which is the world’s largest crypto exchange and offers trades between the ruble and bitcoin.
After Ukraine’s vice prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov called on crypto exchanges on Sunday to block Russian users, Binance refused.
“We are not going to unilaterally freeze millions of innocent users’ accounts,” a spokesperson for Binance told CNBC. “Crypto is meant to provide greater financial freedom for people across the globe. To unilaterally decide to ban people’s access to their crypto would fly in the face of the reason why crypto exists.”
Russia
Crypto exchange Binance has refused to block accounts belonging to Russians.
Bloomberg
Cryptocurrencies fell in tandem with stocks last week when Russia initially invaded Ukraine but have since outperformed. Bitcoin is up 10.8% over the past five days, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 1.0%.
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