Russia and other countries’ attempts to dodge sanctions will pump the value of Bitcoin, according to VanEck.
The investment management firm’s analysts Matthew Sigel, Patrick Bush and Nathan Frankovitz made that argument in a Monday note.
“Countries like Russia and Venezuela have already acknowledged BTC’s developing role in international trade,” they wrote.
“We believe that many nations will transition some international trade to BTC as a result of Western nations’ overuse of sanctions, the desire to hedge away dollar risk, and the lack of trustworthy alternative currencies.”
The argument came as US President Donald Trump’s tariffs on some 90 countries have shaved some 20%, or $800 billion, of the global cryptocurrency market since January.
The drop also coincided with a 93% decline in memecoin trading between January and March, VanEck wrote.
Other risk-on assets, such as equities, have also been caught in the downturn. The S&P 500 index is down about 6.6% since Trump took office.