Megaphone icon ETF Database is now VettaFi. Read More >
ETFdb Logo
ETFdb Logo
  • Channels
    • Active ETF
    • Alternatives
    • Beyond Basic Beta
    • China Insights
    • Climate Insights
    • Commodities
    • Core Strategies
    • Crypto
    • Disruptive Technology
    • Dividend
    • Dual Impact
    • Emerging Markets
    • Energy Infrastructure
    • Entrepreneur ETF
    • Equity ETF
    • ESG
    • ETF Building Blocks
    • ETF Education
    • ETF Strategist
    • Fixed Income
    • Future ETFs
    • Gold & Silver Investing
    • Innovative ETFs
    • Institutional Income Strategies
    • Leveraged & Inverse
    • Managed Futures
    • Modern Alpha
    • Multi-Asset
    • Multi-Factor
    • Nasdaq Investment Intelligence
    • Portfolio Strategies
    • Retirement Income
    • Smart Beta
    • Thematic Investing
    • Volatility Resource
  • Database
  • Tools
    • ETF Screener
    • ETF Country Exposure Tool
    • ETF Sector Tracker Tool
    • ETF Database Categories
    • Head-To-Head ETF Comparison Tool
    • ETF Stock Exposure Tool
    • ETF Issuer Fund Flows
    • Indexes
    • Mutual Fund To ETF Converter
    • ETF Data for Journalists
    • ETF Nerds
  • Research
    • First Bitcoin ETF
    • ETF Education
    • Equity Investing
    • Dividend ETFs
    • Leveraged ETFs
    • Inverse ETFs
    • Top ETF Sectors
    • Top ETF Issuers
    • Top ETF Industries
  • Webcasts
    • ETFs Future-Forward 2021: An iShares Investing Symposium
    • Three Themes for 2021: An iShares & MSCI Investing Symposium
  • Themes
    • AI ETFs
    • Blockchain ETFs
    • See all Thematic Investing ETF themes
    • ESG Investing
    • Marijuana ETFs
  • Videos & Podcasts
    • ETF 360 Video Series
    • ETF Trends on Videos
    • ETF Trends on Podcasts
    • ETF Prime Podcast
  • PRO
    • Pro Content
    • Pro Tools
    • Advanced
    • FAQ
    • Pricing
    • Free Sign Up
    • Login
  1. Crypto Channel
  2. Russia Can’t Sidestep Sanctions With Crypto
Crypto Channel
Share

Russia Can’t Sidestep Sanctions With Crypto

Evan HarpMar 01, 2022
2022-03-01

Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began last Thursday, bitcoin has risen 13%.

Both Russia and Ukraine have seen huge upticks in trading volume. “Basically, having a currency that is not controlled by the government, that is not affected by the emergency acts … is really interesting,” said Bea O’Carroll, managing director at Radkl, a digital asset firm. “Maybe this is how Russia gets its value moved around. Equally, on the other side, there was ‘this is how people are going to get value to the Ukrainians.’”

Russian banks have lost access to the global SWIFT system, causing some to speculate that cryptocurrency could help the warmongering nation blunt the effect of sanctions. However, some experts think that Russia’s size may impede them. “There simply isn’t enough global (crypto) liquidity to support Russia’s needs,” wrote Asheesh Birla, senior vice president for product for Ripple, the world’s third-largest digital currency. Birla notes that Russia conducts nearly $50 billion in foreign exchange transactions daily, which is roughly equal to the entire value of all bitcoin transactions worldwide.

Transactions still leave data fingerprints, and evading sanctions could be complicated. A major bitcoin heist in 2016 led to two arrests in part because the culprits were unable to launder the stolen money or conceal its origins. Caroline Malcolm, head of international policy at distributed ledger research firm Chainalysis, told Coindesk that suspicious payments can be flagged. “We’ve seen that in the past with sanctions, you’ve got examples where wallet addresses have been named as sanctioned entities and that allows Chainalysis to put in place alerts for our customers, whether they be government or from industry,” Malcolm said. “So that if they have transactions, which you know, intersecting with sanctioned entities, they’ll be able to see those and get an alert on those immediately.”

The past few days have shown that cryptocurrencies can perform well during tumultuous times, with bitcoin’s surge outperforming traditional safe haven assets. As the crypto space becomes more mainstream, problems will arise demanding innovative solutions from the companies that interact with the space. The Vaneck Vectors Digital Transformation ETF (DAPP) has several of those companies in its holdings. DAPP provides exposure to the digital infrastructure around cryptocurrency. This includes exchanges and other firms on the forefront of digital transformation.

For more news, information, and strategy, visit the Crypto Channel.

Loading Articles...
Help & Info
  • Contact Us
  • Mission Statement
  • Press
Tools
  • ETF Screener
  • ETF Analyzer
  • Mutual Fund to ETF Converter
  • Head-To-Head ETF Comparison
  • ETF Country Exposure Tool
  • ETF Stock Exposure Tool
  • ETF Performance Visualizer
  • ETF Database Model Portfolios
  • ETF Database Realtime Ratings
  • ETF Database Pro
More Tools
  • ETF Launch Center
  • Financial Advisor & RIA Center
  • ETF Database RSS Feed
Explore ETFs
  • ETF News
  • ETF Picks of the Month
  • ETF Category Reports
  • Premium Articles
  • Alphabetical Listing of ETFs
  • Best ETFs
  • Browse ETFs by ETF Database Category
  • Browse ETFs by Index
  • Browse ETFs by Issuer
  • Compare ETFs
Legal
  • Terms of Use and Privacy Policy
  • © ETF Flows LLC
Follow ETF Database
Follow ETF Database

Advertisement

Is Your Portfolio Positioned With Enough Global Exposure?

Equity ETF Channel

Retirement Portfolio Redux: Is the 60%-40% Portfolio Dead?

Debbie CarlsonOct 22, 2020
2020-10-22

With the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield hovering below 1% and Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell...

Equity ETF Channel

Portfolio Diversification Isn't Dead, It Was Just Sleeping

Debbie CarlsonOct 15, 2020
2020-10-15

Investors could be forgiven to think there was no reason to invest outside of the U.S. for the...

}
X