"JPMorgan said it expected Russia's economy to contract 35% in the second quarter and 7% in 2022 with the economy suffering an economic output decline comparable to the 1998 crisis." I am not sure how "35% in second quarter" can translate into "7% in 2022". Maybe JPM thinks that the sanctions will be lifted some time in 2022? If so, I don't think so.
Binance & Coinbase are having record breaking accounts signing up from Ukraine & Russia. I predict, explosive growth in on/off ramps for crypto in Russia. They already own a significant amount of bitcoin mining power. The silly thing is Russia had been cracking down on them not too long ago. How quickly this industry changes one day to the next.
It's certainly proving the use case for crypto! I can't see sanctions being lifted this year. If anything I can see further escalations coming
Quite the opposite. Anyone selling cryptos as an alternative to government controls is doing a disservice to cryptos.
The Ruble is free falling - crypto offers an easy to access alternative store of value. SWIFT cut off - Russian public can not send or receive funds to family or business overseas - crypto offers an alternative transfer method due to being permission less. Ukrainian refugees having fled the country and lost all of their possessions. Literally all they had when they got to the new destination was their crypto which saved lives. Please explain how this is not positive use case for crypto.
Well, clearly it circumvents the efforts by Western nations to pressure Russia into reconsidering its invasion of Ukraine and provides Russian oligarchy an escape from the stranglehold.
With crypto, they're moving into something, that could end up being a bear trap, given their situation.