Ukrainians Opt for Tether as Banks Suspend Electronic Cash

The Ukraine central bank, amid an escalating war, is clamping down on digital money transfers in the country. This measure was enforced as the nation declared martial law. 

The National Bank of Ukraine in its official statement states: banks – issuers of electronic money to suspend the issuance of electronic money, replenishment of electronic wallets with electronic money, distribution of electronic money.

Accordingly, this could be referring to fiat money maintained in digital accounts held in payment systems such as Paypal.

While the country imposes new monetary restrictions in light of geopolitical turmoil, Ukrainians are now looking to crypto. Consequently, a well-known Ukrainian crypto exchange, Kuna, is showing that buyers are shelling cash for Tether’s USDT stablecoin, which is pegged to the price of the U.S. dollar.

Michael Chobanian, the founder of Kuna says:

We don’t trust the government. We don’t trust the banking system. We don’t trust the local currency. The majority of people have nothing else to choose apart from crypto.

A popular coin with the market cap of over $79 billion, Tether is not as volatile as other cryptocurrencies.  While Bitcoin and Ethereum, among several other altcoins, saw a great deal of fluctuations in the past few weeks amid the surging geopolitical tensions, Tether has remained more or less stable.

Notably, Ukraine was on its way to establishing itself in the crypto space. According to the Kyiv Post, Ukraine had plans to open the cryptocurrency market to businesses and investors. However on Thursday, the people of Ukraine woke up to the sounds of blasts, and of sirens warning them of airstrikes. Much of the scared civilians are now fleeing conflict zones. And the world watches as tensions escalate.