Russians start buying up Tether cryptocurrency amid June 24 riots
Russians who want to save their money amid the June 24 military coup attempt have started buying up Tether cryptocurrency. Bloomberg writes about this, citing data from CCData, a research company specializing in the crypto market.
According to CCData, the volume of trading in stablecoin for rubles more than tripled in one day to about $15 million. Trading took place on cryptocurrency exchanges that still support ruble transactions, including Binance, Cryptonex, HitBTC, and Coinsbit, CCData noted.
According to CCData communications manager Jamie Sly, the sharp rise in trading volume is not a direct indication that investors were buying Tether, but it may indicate that “market participants have turned their attention to a less volatile asset such as USDT compared to rubles, as similar trends have not been observed for bitcoin.”
In turn, Clara Medali, research director at Kaiko, a blockchain data company, told Bloomberg that Tether’s trading volume for rubles was at a record high since December 2022.
To recap.
Tether is the first cryptocurrency to acquire the status of a stablecoin, i.e. a digital token whose value is tied to a fiat currency or a physical asset.
The most popular token is USDT, which is pegged to the dollar. In addition, Tether has assets pegged to the euro (EURT), Japanese yen (JPYT), Chinese yuan (CNHT), and gold (XAUT).
Stablecoins are widely used by traders as a way to transfer funds between exchanges and as a safe haven from price fluctuations, making them one of the most traded cryptocurrencies, Bloomberg writes.
Wagner PMC mutiny
Russians started buying up Tether tokens amid the situation around the founder of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
On the morning of June 24, Prigozhin said that fighters from his private military company had blocked military facilities in Rostov-on-Don and intended to move toward Moscow.
On the evening of June 24, Prigozhin reported that the Wagner PMC was returning “to the field camps.”
Source: Ministry of Finance
