Plummeted by 50%! Cryptocurrency trading volumes on Russia's major exchanges hit a precipitous drop

When bitcoin rose more than 15% last week, some analysts attributed the rise to Russians turning to cryptocurrencies to avoid sanctions. However, that theory may have been proven wrong this week.

According to Chainalysis data, the volume of ruble-denominated cryptocurrencies traded on March 3 was just $34.1 million, half of the $70.7 million peak a week earlier on Feb. 24.

Commenting on the sanctions pushing Russians to buy cryptocurrencies, Citigroup analyst Alexander Saunders said, "So far, the volume of Russian cryptocurrency trading is still relatively small."