On the day of the failed coup attempt in Russia, the trading volume of the stablecoin USDT (Tether) with Russian rubles significantly increased. Bloomberg and Kaiko reported this data. Kaiko found that the trading volumes of Russian rubles in USDT on Binance and Huobi suddenly jumped well over 5 million on Saturday, while previous days had been less than 2 million. However, these volumes are lower than last year’s peaks during the invasion of Ukraine. CCData’s analysis of more exchanges showed that the daily trading volume on June 24 rose to over $15 million, while the previous day and the day after remained below $5 million.
To understand this trend, it is necessary to analyze the trend of the exchange rate between rubles and dollars. The ruble’s purchasing power has changed significantly in recent months. The exchange rate plummeted to record lows during the war in Ukraine but rebounded by June last year. However, it has since gone back down significantly, reaching its lowest level ever. Buying dollars with rubles has become less and less convenient.
Tether’s USDT stablecoin is fully collateralized in US dollars and has the same value as USD. It can exploit the censorship-resistance of blockchains and is not censurable by any authority when moved to non-custodial wallets. Non-custodial wallets for digital fiat currencies do not exist.
Although there is still doubt about whether the attempted coup by the Wagner Group was real, it scared many Russians. Oligarchs and well-off Muscovites fled the city in those days. The impact of the coup on financial markets, including the ruble’s market, is unknown. However, fear may have generated increased demand for USDT in rubles.
On June 24, USDT’s market capitalization rose slightly before falling back to its previous level. Currently, it has a market capitalization of around $83.24 billion.
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