Russia Sees An Increase In Over-The-Counter (OTC) Crypto Trading

Russia, which is one of the few countries that have restricted crypto trading, is seeing spikes in the demand for over-the-counter (OTC) investments in Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrency assets.

As the local reports say, the daily trading volume for cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and Ethereum in Moscow alone reaches $50 million on peak days – which is still small in comparison to the major cryptocurrency exchanges – but then again large knowing that there is big regulatory uncertainty in Russia.

Right now, the government restricts cryptocurrency investing in Russia. However, since cryptocurrencies are currently considered as properties, it is technically legal for citizens and residents of the country to hold cryptocurrencies.

Aleksei Karpenko, who is a senior partner at the law firm Forward Legal, has recently spoken to a Bitcoin.com and said the following:

“There is a common rule – if specific transactions are not prohibited, then they are allowed. This is a matter of agreement between a buyer and a seller.”

Russia is seeing a stagnation in the growth of its crypto market – mostly due to the lack of regulatory frameworks and policies. However, the local OTC platforms that rely on global crypto exchanges to pool in liquidity into the cryptocurrency market charge from 1.5% to 2% as commission rates and are able to generate hundreds of thousands of dollars in daily profit.

According to analysts, the activity of cryptocurrency investors in (restricted) regions such as Russia, China and India will likely increase in the years to come, regardless of the state of their policies.