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Russians are increasingly seeking new crypto platforms following Binance’s exit from the market, according to the Bank of Russia.
Binance’s departure from Russia has led to a drastic shift in web traffic as Russians started seeking new alternatives, according to the latest research report from the Bank of Russia. The document indicates a significant increase in crypto market activity among Russians during Q4 2023 and Q1 2024, driven by rising crypto valuations, the central bank claims.
Following Binance’s departure, there has been a marked redistribution of web traffic among Russian users. Binance’s share of Russian web traffic plummeted from 47% in the third quarter of 2023 to 16% in the first quarter of 2024. Meanwhile, the share of five other crypto exchanges jumped from 39% to 64% over the same period.
During this period, the total web traffic of Russian users on major crypto platforms, including exchanges, peer-to-peer platforms, and over-the-counter platforms, surged by 16.4% compared to Q2 and Q3 of 2023, reaching 104.6 million visits, the financial regulator notes.
As a result, the average monthly number of unique users (IP addresses) on these platforms grew by over 15%, while the proportion of Russian visits to these sites rose to 7% in Q1 2024, though this is still below the peak of 9% seen in Q1 2023, the watchdog notes.
The Bank of Russia also reported that the inflows and outflows of cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and USD Coin (USDC) by Russians grew to 4.5 trillion rubles (about $51 billion), a 15.6% increase from the second and third quarters of 2023.
The shift comes against a backdrop of internal turmoil in the Russian crypto market, with users seeking new safe harbors for crypto amid reports of rug pulls.
One such scandal involved Beribit, a Russian crypto exchange allegedly owned by Ukrainian oligarch Serhiy Kurchenko, who is reportedly linked to Ukraine’s fugitive pro-Russian ex-president Viktor Yanukovych. Beribit recently left its customers without as much as $4 million, further fueling the search for reliable crypto platforms. As of press time, reports indicate that the exchange hasn’t returned funds to its customers.
Despite the increased activity and the search for new platforms, the Bank of Russia says the scale of crypto investments is not yet significant enough to pose the market as a separate risk to the country’s financial stability.
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