Kaiko: Bitcoin trading volume in BTC/RUB pair rises amid Ukraine invasion

Against the backdrop of global sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, trading volume in the BTC/RUB pair rose to a nine-month high of 1.5 billion rubles. CoinDesk, citing analytics firm Kaiko.

«Activity [traders] is concentrated on Binance. The trading volume of the BTC/UAH pair has also risen, but not as much as in October. BTC/UAH trades on only two exchanges — Binance and LocalBitcoins», — Kaiko said.

The company stressed that a similar trend is observed in pairs with the stablecoin Tether (USDT). According to Kaiko, on February 24, the trading volume of the USDT/RUB pair reached an eight-month high of 1.3 billion rubles.

Kaiko analysts say that the sharp rise in trading volume occurred as investors sought to shed ruble-denominated deposits. They say traders fear tightening sanctions.

An increase in ruble-denominated trading volume may also be linked to the ruble’s slide. Last week the ruble fell by more than 8%.

On February 28, after the market opened, the Moscow Exchange установила a cap on currency rates at 90 rubles per dollar and above 101 rubles for the euro. The corridor was later widened.

Earlier, Grayscale analysts noted that the volatility of Bitcoin could present a good buying opportunity for long-term investors.

The founder and CEO of the BTC.TOP pool, Jiang Zhuoer, said that disconnecting Russia from SWIFT would positively affect the digital-asset market.