New Delhi: With Russia declaring a ‘special military operation’ on Ukraine, the cryptocurrency market has been experiencing a toll. However, amid all the chaos and devastation, Bitcoin has experienced a higher market capitalisation than the Russian currency ruble. The Russian currency has been undergoing major decline owing to the weight of Western sanctions put on Russia over its Ukraine invasion.
Bitcoin has surpassed Russia’s ruble in terms of total value with the price of Bitcoin surging while the ruble undergoes a freefall. According to the data by FiatMarketCap, for the first time, Bitcoin has exceeded ruble in the global ranking fiat currencies by market value in BTC, as the crypto is ranked 14th and RUB at 17th in the list.
Trading volume in Bitcoin using the ruble has increased to the highest level since May, suggesting that Russians are shifting their money into crypto owing to the plunge of the ruble to a record low in the middle of the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Bitcoin has added over 20% since dropping to lows below $35,000 last week, even though it is much behind its record high of $69,000 in November last year. Moreover, the Russian currency has crashed nearly 30% following new Western sanctions imposed on the country over the weekend.
Meanwhile, Russia has responded to the crash by more than doubling its benchmark interest rate to 20% and telling companies to convert 80% of their foreign currency revenues on the domestic market as the central bank, which is low under Western sanctions has stopped foreign exchange involvements.
Besides, Russia’s rating has been cut to ‘junk’ by rating agency Moody’s. Also, Fitch has slashed the country’s credit rating six levels to the junk while major tracked global indices MSCI Inc and FTSE Russell are reducing Russian equities from emerging-market (EM) index.