The Russia-Ukraine war issue has had substantial repercussions in the cryptocurrency universe to the point that it has been called the world’s first “crypto war”.
On the Ukrainian side, the government itself began accepting donations of Bitcoin, Ethereum, and stablecoins in an attempt to increase its war budget. Quickly Ukraine’s wallets ramped up to accept other altcoins such as Polkadot and Dogecoin, eventually reaching several million of dollars in funds.
Of those funds, Ukraine has already spent $15 million on military equipment. There is no information on expenditures allocated for humanitarian work.
On the other hand, much has been speculated about the possibility of Russia turning to cryptocurrencies as a way to circumvent sanctions imposed by the United States and its allied countries.
However, there has been no official announcement on the matter, and CZ itself assured that it was almost impossible for Russia to effectively use cryptocurrencies to keep its economy afloat:
“The truth is, crypto is too small for Russia. If we look at the crypto adoption today, there is probably about 3% of the global population with some kind of crypto exposure (i.e., owning some crypto). Of those, most only have a small percentage of their net worth in crypto. Less than 10% on average. So, there is probably only less than 0.3% of the global net worth in crypto today. This percentage applies equally to Russia.”
Russia is also turning to china
After Visa and MasterCard announced that their operations in Russia would be suspended, many Russian banks claimed on Sunday that they would soon begin issuing cards using the Chinese UnionPay card operator’s system combined with Russia’s own Mir network.
Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, as well as Alfa Bank and Tinkoff, made announcements about the transfer to UnionPay on Sunday.
Many enterprises have found it difficult, if not impossible, to source parts, make payments, and transfer items to and from Russia as a result of international sanctions, the loss of aircraft and transportation links due to the war, and financial limitations on SWIFT and capital controls.
Furthermore, the possibility for international consumer reaction against any company seen as supporting Vladimir Putin’s dictatorship has accelerated the exit of corporations from Russia.
