USDT trading volume in rubles increases more than threefold amid PMC Wagner’s mutiny

The largest platforms for ruble transactions in June were Binance, Cryptonex, HitBTC, and Coinsbit

27.06.2023 - 10:30

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What’s new? On June 24, the volume of trading in ruble-denominated USDT stablecoins more than tripled. The daily figure on crypto exchanges that still support trading in the Russian currency was about $15 million, CCData analysts report. The largest platforms for ruble transactions as of this month are Binance, Cryptonex, HitBTC, and Coinsbit.

Bloomberg’s material

Experts’ opinions. According to Jamie Sly, communications manager at CCData, the growth of trading volume of stablecoins in rubles may be due to the fact that “market participants looking toward a less volatile asset like USDT versus rubles, as similar trends were not observed for BTC volumes.”

Clara Medalie, director of research at the blockchain data firm Kaiko, reported that the ruble-denominated stablecoin trading volume is at its highest since last December. She also noted that most exchanges have delisted ruble-denominated trading pairs amid tougher sanctions against Russia.

At the beginning of the year, it was reported that against the backdrop of sanctions, Russians were more active in applying for verified accounts to continue trading on exchanges. Experts warned about the risks of encountering fraud or losing the account after it was restored by the real owner.

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On June 23 to 24, PMC Wagner announced its march on Moscow, but by the evening of June 24, it deployed columns following the talks. On June 25, Elon Musk’s comment about the attempted mutiny in the Russian Federation led to the growth of the rate of the PSYOP meme token by 2403% overnight.

Earlier, Kaiko analysts reported that the share of transactions with stablecoins on centralized exchanges increased by 16% over a year and a half. Among the reasons, they singled out the tightening of industry regulation in the United States.

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