In other circumstances, you’d have to wonder if Pavel Zavalny, head of the Russian State Duma’s Committee on Energy, was trolling European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde when he suggested that the government would sell its natural gas for bitcoin.
That was Wednesday, March 23. A day earlier, crypto-skeptic Lagarde told attendees of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Summit on Tuesday, that “volumes of rubles into stable[coins], into cryptos, at the moment [is at] the highest level that we have seen since maybe 2021.”
See also: Crypto’s Impact on Russian Sanctions Could Lead to Tougher Regulation
Up or down?
Lagarde’s assessment does not match what is happening on crypto exchanges, according to several sources including highly-regarded blockchain intelligence firm Chainalysis. While the data isn’t comprehensive of all exchanges, it found that as of March 18, crypto purchases in rubles were about $7.4 million, down from $70 million on March 7.
Meanwhile, crypto data firm Kaiko found $5 million in Tether’ USDT stablecoins — by far the most heavily used in purchasing cryptocurrencies on exchanges — on March 22, down from the March 7 high of $38 million.
Which isn’t to say that Russian oligarchs aren’t buying crypto, but it does make Lagarde’s statement seem a bit out of date — particularly as Chainalysis is heavily involved in law enforcement’s use of bitcoin tracking to shut down crime, terrorism funding, and of…
