Major Cryptocurrencies—Including Bitcoin, Ether—Rise Amid Fears Russia Will Use Them To Evade Sanctions

It was updated on Mar 1, 2022.

The value of top cryptocurrencies, including market leaders, reversed steep declines from the start of the war on Tuesday.

The world's largest digital coin jumped more than 10% to more than $43,100 on Tuesday morning, compared to the previous 24 hours.

Over the same time period, the world's second-largest currency, ether, rose by more than 9% to nearly $2,900.

There were similar bumps between 5% and 10% for other major cryptocurrencies.

The gains reflect a wider rally in the market, which grew by 10% in the last 24 hours and is now worth nearly $2 trillion.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine triggered a wave of economic sanctions from world governments which have isolated Russia from the global financial system, hobbled its economy and sent its currency, the ruble, to record lows. According to a report by the data firm Kaiko, there has been a spike in the trading of cryptocurrencies in the two countries. It's not clear why interest has spiked, though it could be that both Russia and the Ukrainians are trying to evade sanctions, as well as the volatility of both coins and dollars being used to donate to the Ukrainian effort. With more Russians possibly moving their money into cryptocurrencies, Ukrainian officials have called for exchanges to block Russian users and freeze assets linked to Russian and Belarusian people.

The Russian ruble is worth less than the digital currency. The value of Russia's ruble has plummeted following sanctions against the Russian economy. The supply of the Russian ruble is approximately $638 billion, while the market cap of the digital currency is around $821 billion.

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