Bitcoin, Tether, Ethereum Trade for Premiums in Ukraine, Hryvnia BTC Price $3K Higher Than Global Average

After Ukraine’s central bank imposed a limit on cash withdrawals, Kuna, a cryptocurrency exchange that provides trades in ruble and hryvnia saw a notable surge in volume. Moreover, to this day, crypto-assets being swapped on Kuna such as bitcoin, tether, and ethereum are trading for a significant premium.

Crypto in Ukraine Sees Premiums

The ongoing conflict continues in Ukraine after Russian troops invaded the territory. The United Nations (UN) estimates that roughly 100,000 Ukrainian citizens have fled the country during the last 24 hours.

Following the Russian invasion, two days ago, the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) implemented a daily cash withdrawal cap of 100,000 hryvnias ($3,350). The NBU invoked the mandate on February 24, after Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky imposed martial law.

Immediately following the NBU’s limit mandate on cash withdrawals, the cryptocurrency exchange Kuna saw trade volume surge by $3.5 million on Thursday. Trade volume on Kuna jumped from $1.4 million to a high of $4.8 million with most of the trading pairs in hryvnia (UAH).

Volume remains higher on Kuna as volume on the crypto exchange was $780 million six days ago, but today, Kuna’s exchange volume is $1.4 million. Not only does the exchange allow trading in hryvnia (UAH), traders can also swap coins in ruble (RUB).

There’s also a premium on bitcoin (BTC), ethereum (ETH), and tether (USDT) on the Kuna exchange as tether is swapping for $1.08 per token at the time of writing. Outside Ukraine, at the same time, tether (USDT) is exchanging hands for $0.99 per coin.

On Kuna, leveraging the hryvnia (UAH) pair, a single ethereum (ETH) is currently swapping for $2,982.83 per unit, while outside Ukraine ETH trades for $2,770 per unit.

Bitcoin (BTC) is exchanging hands for $42,106 when swapped with the hryvnia (UAH) pair, as the premium is $3,124 more expensive than the crypto asset outside Kuna’s platform.

Localbitcoins.com bitcoin (BTC) prices are also seeing a premium as some sellers are selling for prices as high as 1,296,879.12 UAH/BTC or $43,480 per coin. However, localbitcoins.com metrics for this week show trade volume in Ukraine is currently lower than usual.

Similarly, localbitcoins.com has not seen any meaningful upswings in BTC trade volume in Russia. As far as Kuna is concerned, there is a RUB/BTC premium as BTC is swapping for $40,705 or 3,414,848 RUB. ETH/RUB on Kuna has a premium as well but not as high as the premium for hryvnia (UAH) ether swaps.