Russia Financial News

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has created a conundrum for US investment firms, pressuring them to unload Russian securities when the country’s stock market is closed and foreigners are blocked from selling shares there.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance on Thursday said cardholders of sanctioned Russian banks would not be able to use them on their platform and confirmed that sanctioned individuals have had their access restricted.

The vice prime minister of Ukraine informed the public on Wednesday that they have decided to cancel the airdrop for crypto donors that was announced on Tuesday and plans to raise more money through the sale of nonfungible tokens (NFTs) instead.

Clearing is a key part of market plumbing that has hit the headlines since the Brexit vote, and more recently in sanctions against Russia.

Bitcoin (BTC) has the potential to become a "good bet" for investors if the Federal Reserve does everything it can to keep the U.S. economy afloat against impending recession risks, according to popular analyst Bitcoin Jack.

Bitcoin took a breather as investors booked profits, after the US Fed's chair Powell testified before the US Congress. Altcoins followed suit. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell reaffirmed the US central bank's plan to raise interest rates this month for the first time since 2018. On the other hand, the saga in Eastern Europe continued. All of the top digital tokens were trading lower on Thursday. Avalanche tumbled as much as 6 per cent, whereas Cardano and Shiba Inu dropped 3 per cent each. Bitcoin and Ethereum also shed a per cent each.

Ukraine has canceled a much-talked-about "airdrop" to people who have donated crypto to the country, with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that support Ukraine’s Armed Forces now being planned instead, the country’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, said on Twitter.

While the West is growing increasingly concerned over Russia’s potential use of cryptocurrencies to evade sanctions, some Russians are using their Bitcoin (BTC) to help Ukrainian people.

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance will not accept sanctioned Russian banks' cards

The chief executive of Schroders said there is “no market” for Russian stocks anymore, as he warned that knock-on effects from the war in Ukraine could trigger a slowdown in the UK.

Bill Gross, the one-time bond king who co-founded fixed income giant Pimco, said he sees the possibility of stagflation in the economy and he wouldn't buy stocks aggressively now.

The Biden administration is expected to ban Russian-flagged ships from entering U.S. ports, according to officials familiar with the matter, extending sanctions against the country following its invasion of Ukraine.

More than a million Ukrainians have fled their homeland in under a week, latest figures from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reveal.

Global cryptocurrency markets have rallied strongly in recent days in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, with Bitcoin's rising to $44,188 on Wednesday after falling to $36,370 last week. Other leading cryptocurrencies, including Ethereum, ripple and Solana, were either flat or up at least 2%.

French Finance Minister Bruno le Maire said on Wednesday that the European Union (EU) is looking for ways other than cryptocurrencies to impose EU sanctions on Russia, Reuters reported.

Crypto financial services firm BlockFi has released the third edition of its Real Talk quarterly survey.

The Ukrainian government and non-profit organizations providing support to Ukrainians and the military have cumulatively raised nearly USD 53.5m worth of crypto assets, according to SlowMist AML, a blockchain security firm that tracks crypto donations sent to the government and four Ukrainian NGOs.

Steve Schifferes, Honorary Research Fellow, City Political Economy Research Centre; Professor of Financial Journalism, City, University of London._____

From a TV screen above the plenary of the European Parliament on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made an impassioned call for Europe to prove that it supported his invaded country.

Investors spooked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine pulled more than £600m from equity funds in the final few days of February, reversing what would have been a buoyant month.

Bitcoin prices have surged as investors again appear to view the volatile cryptocurrency as a safe haven for their money and Russians and Ukrainians seek alternatives to their country's financial institutions. After initially falling to around $34,000 following Russia's advance into Ukraine last week, bitcoin pushed about 10% higher on Monday and is now up more than 25% in the past week, to $43,900 Wednesday afternoon. Other cryptocurrencies have also soared. Russians are exchanging their rapidly devalued rubles for bitcoin to try and mitigate the impact of the economic sanctions imposed by the international communities for their country's attack on Ukraine. The Ukrainian government has limited its citizens' ability to conduct electronic fund transactions, so Ukrainians are also turning to bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. They're also buying stablecoins whose values are pegged to the U.S. dollar.