It is noteworthy that at the same time there is a worldwide trend towards a decrease in activity on the largest crypto exchanges. According to expert estimates, the total website traffic of the leading platforms decreased by almost 20%, which directly correlates with a similar drop in trading volumes compared to the previous month.
Bybit, being one of the world's largest centers for cryptoasset transactions, continues to fully provide its services for Russian users. It is worth noting that other well-known exchanges such as HTX, KuCoin and Deribit also register a significant share of traffic from Russia - 8%, 5% and 10% respectively.
Of particular note is the fact that in early February, Deribit, a platform specializing in options trading, decided to block Russian accounts due to the requirements of the European Union sanctions regime, requiring users to close all open positions and withdraw assets by March 29. Despite this, Deribit continues to be a key player in the crypto options market. According to Coindesk, the largest crypto exchanges in the United States are considering acquiring Deribit, estimating the potential deal at between $4 billion and $5 billion.
Among the most prominent exchanges, HTX recorded the largest increase in traffic in February (+45%), while KuCoin showed a 62% decrease in traffic.
The analysis of the geographical distribution of users of other major exchanges showed that the largest share of traffic from the United States traditionally falls on Coinbase (66%) and CryptoCom (41%). At the same time, a significant part of Binance traffic is provided by users from India (10%), Brazil (6%) and South Korea (6%).
In addition, a drop in trading volumes was noted in February. Spot trading volumes on the leading centralized exchanges decreased by 21% compared to January. The exceptions were Bitfinex (+14%) and MEXC (+3%). The largest declines were registered by Korea's Upbit (-46%), Crypto.com (-29%) and Kraken (-27%).
The volume of transactions with derivatives (futures, options and other derivatives) also decreased by 15% compared to January. MEXC (+7%) and Gate (+4%) showed the largest growth, while Crypto.com (-27%), Kraken (-26%) and KuCoin (-25%) showed the largest decrease.
The source of data on spot and derivative volumes is CoinGecko. Nevertheless, experts warn that this data may be subject to distortion due to the use of unfair practices such as artificial tipping of volumes (wash trading) on the second-tier exchanges, as well as the activity of bots.
Read more:
- Expert assessed the size of the middle class in Russia: according to economist Mikhail Zubets, the middle class in Russia can include families with a monthly income of 200 thousand rubles or more.
- Russia increased exports of wine products in January 2025: domestic producers show strong growth in wine shipments to foreign markets.