Recently, Ukraine has Called for “sabotaging” the daily crypto assets of the Russians due to the ongoing war between the two countries. Among many, its European allies have also expressed growing fears that Russia could use cryptocurrency to circumvent Western sanctions.
But ironically, one of the biggest proponents of banning ordinary Russians and financial institutions from accessing cryptocurrencies is actually the Central Bank of Russia itself or the CBR. Like According to the local newspaper tass.ru on Thursday, the CBR continues to adhere to its position to propose a ban on the issuance, extraction and circulation of cryptocurrencies in the Russian Federation. A CBR official said:
“The central bank is currently supporting the position that was previously announced and published on the official website. Therefore, there is nothing to add today.”
During war, nations usually have to drastically increase their spending, such as by printing new money to fund their military efforts. However, this leads to high inflation, thus enticing people to exchange their local currencies for foreign currencies (including now cryptocurrencies) to protect their savings.
But this, in turn, would put strong pressure on the local currency, raising exchange rates and hampering efforts to finance the war. As a result, countries usually impose strict currency controls during war, as Russia and Ukraine have already done. Thus, the disadvantages of the cryptocurrency, destabilizing the ruble and, through proxies, crippling Russia’s military efforts, could potentially outweigh the benefits of using cryptocurrency to avoid sanctions.
According to a report published by Arcane Research this week, Tether’s daily trading volume (USDT) in Binance rubles reached a record high of $ 35 million. Members of Russian social media seem to be deeply concerned about the falling value of the ruble and how cryptocurrencies can help them protect their savings. Roman Buchin wrote:
“You have to buy something [cryptocurrencies]; the ruble will soon be cheaper than toilet paper. “