Russians are liquidating crypto in the UAE to seek safe havens: report

Russian crypto holders are reportedly liquidating billions of dollars in virtual currency, putting these into investments in Dubai. Some have sought to buy into other safe-haven assets.

According to a report by Reuters on Friday, 11 March, digital asset platforms based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) have been inundated by requests to sell Bitcoin and other crypto-assets.

Are you looking for fast-news, hot-tips and market analysis?

Sign-up for the Invezz newsletter, today.

The report cites statements from numerous crypto firm executives and financial experts. With many European countries and the US imposing sanctions, it is feared wealthy Russians could try to avoid asset freezes by any means possible. Crypto appears to be one of the options.

Using crypto to hedge against inflationary pressure or evade sanctions?

The Russian currency, the ruble, has deflated big time since the war in Ukraine started. And some observers say people could be running into crypto to protect their money against massive devaluation.

Commenting on the issue, Apurv Trivedi of Healy Consultants told Reuters:

“They’re basically trying to protect themselves against the inflationary pressures that are happening against the Russian currency. So crypto has been a very good exit for them to manage the risks that they’re facing.”

According to the consultant, crypto offers the liquidity needed.

But what about clients seeking to sell Bitcoin worth $2 billion or more?

According to the sources, Swiss brokers have put in requests to liquidate Bitcoin holdings from Russians worried that Swiss authorities could freeze their assets. The requests, the report added, have all been of BTC worth $2 billion or more.

One of the requests “wanted to sell 125,000 bitcoin” worth about $6 billion. The money was then to be wired to Australia, a UAE crypto firm executive said.

Reportedly, the firm did not process any of the five or six liquidations sought over the past two weeks.

Using crypto to buy real estate

It’s not just the selling of crypto for cash that’s being reported, but its use in the purchase of UAE real estate.

Sources told Reuters that some of the clients have used their cryptocurrency to buy into real estate, while some are looking to quickly cash out into hard currency that can then be stashed away to evade the tough sanctions.

“We’ve been seeing a lot of Russians and even Belarusians coming to Dubai and bringing whatever they can bring, even in crypto,” a real estate broker said.

As noted above, the report is surfacing at a time Western authorities have raised concerns about the potential for sanctioned individuals to try circumventing the tough restrictions via crypto.