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Bitcoin (BTC) and stablecoin Tether (USDT) trading volumes in Russia continue to grow, and on Monday they exceeded the highs since the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. However, a discount appeared in trading pairs with the Russian ruble, while Ukrainians are forced to pay extra when transferring their money to cryptocurrency.
On Monday, the BTC/RUB pair on Binance, the only major international crypto exchange that handles both Russian rubles (RUB) and Ukrainian hryvnias (UAH), reached its highest trading volume since the invasion began, at 506 BTC ($19 million). which exceeds the previous high of 437 BTC since the introduction of the troops.
The same thing happened with the USDT/RUB pair. On March 7, its daily trading volume reached $37.314 million, up from $34.938 million on February 24.
On Tuesday, the Binance team announced that the exchange has taken steps to comply with sanctions against Russia, and now payment cards from MasterCard and Visa issued in Russia or abroad and used domestically will not be accepted.
As for Ukraine, the BTC/UAH pair traded 17 BTC on Monday, well below the 79 BTC on the day of the invasion. USDT showed similar statistics: on February 24, the trading volume with the participation of the stablecoin was $ 8.696 million, while as of Monday this figure was $ 6.149 million.
On the local Ukrainian stock exchange Kuna, the drop in trading volume is even more noticeable. Both BTC/UAH and USDT/UAH have been showing a steady downtrend since the beginning of the invasion.
On Monday, 435,317 USDT were sold on the exchange against the hryvnia, while on the day of the entry of Russian troops, this figure was 1,257 Tether. According to Kuna, on Monday, 4.15 BTC were traded on the bitcoin market against the hryvnia, while on February 24 this figure was more significant – 11.8 BTC.
Price and volume of BTC/UAH on the Ukrainian exchange Kuna
Despite the fact that trading volumes using the Ukrainian fiat currency have now decreased, the premium to the price of USDT compared to the official exchange rate between the US dollar and the hryvnia indicates that there is still demand for a stablecoin among Ukrainians.
On Binance on Tuesday, USDT 1 traded against the hryvnia for $1.06 (UAH 31.96). BTC is also traded at a premium – on March 8, Ukrainians had to pay $40,810 in hryvnia terms, which was more than $2,500 more than the market price of Bitcoin on Binance paired with USD.
This is the opposite of what the Russians were experiencing, as USDT on Binance traded at a discount to “real” US dollars in the foreign exchange market.
Thus, the Russians paid $0.93 for 1 USDT on Binance, while the price of BTC in terms of rubles was only $35,398, which was a significant discount compared to the price on the international bitcoin market.
As of Tuesday, BTC was trading at $38,400 on Binance, since then the cryptocurrency has gained about 10% to hit $42,400.
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