Cryptocurrency Market: A Rollercoaster Week

After a turbulent week due to the Russia-Ukraine conflict, bitcoin and many other cryptocurrencies returned to the price range just before the start of the week.

On the morning of February 26 (Vietnamese time), Bitcoin rallied to almost $39,550 after a period of falling below the 35,000 level. USD as soon as Russia launched a “military special operation” in Ukraine. Over the past week, Bitcoin is down just 1.57%.

Ethereum – the second largest digital currency – falls slightly to 2,803 USD. Other cryptocurrencies also rallied, such as Solana, which is up slightly by 1.43%, and Terra, which is up 43.64% over the past week. Cryptocurrency market cap just fell 40% billion dollars from early last week at 1,790 billion dollars.

Top 10 largest digital currencies in the world

Source: CoinMarketCap

Russian billionaires can use digital currencies to avoid sanctions

According to Bloomberg, cryptocurrencies are a potential tool for the Russian rich to avoid the impact of Western sanctions.

US President Joe Biden said on Thursday he had imposed “tough sanctions” in response to Russia’s attack on Ukraine. These measures are intended to limit the ability to do business with the greenback and other major international currencies. In addition, 5 Russian banks have been sanctioned by the US.

A number of Russian billionaires and their family members are also being targeted by the Biden administration. The US President said they should benefit from the Kremlin’s policies and share the pain.

However, these sanctions could do less harm to Russia, which is taking steps to legalize cryptocurrencies and where digital assets are widespread. Usually, countries use physical means to avoid sanctions. Currently, Bloomberg believes that Russia can use cryptocurrencies and decentralized exchanges.

Sanctions by the United States and its allies against Russian companies and individuals could essentially isolate them from the West. Russian billionaires may be able to avoid these penalties by using cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology that anonymizes transactions. Digital currencies can help them buy goods and services and invest in assets outside of Russia — all without being tracked by banks or institutions.

“When two people or organizations want to do business with each other and cannot transact through a bank, they can use Bitcoin. A rich person may turn their wealth into bitcoin if they fear their account might be hacked. frozen by sanctions,” said Mati Greenspan, founder and chief executive officer of financial consulting firm Quantum Economics.

Cryptocurrency owners can also set up a wallet network with different addresses on multiple exchanges, making it extremely difficult to track activity. Alternatively, they can choose crypto exchanges that are not based in the sanctioned region.

According to data from Singapore-based payment gateway TripleA, more than 17 million Russians, or 12% of the population, own cryptocurrency. However, as of February 24, no Russian billionaire has disclosed whether or not they own this money.

According to NYT, experts say Russia has many tools related to cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions. The Russian government is also developing a central bank cryptocurrency called Digital Rubles. They hope to use it to trade directly with other countries without having to convert USD.

In October 2020, a representative of the Central Bank of Russia told a Russian newspaper that the new “digital ruble” would make the country less dependent on the US and better withstand sanctions. It will allow institutions in Russia to conduct transactions outside of the international banking system with any country willing to conduct digital currency transactions.

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