Russia bans exit of foreign investments as sanctions tighten

RIYADH: Binance, the largest crypto exchange by trading volume, has announced that it will donate at least $10 million to help the Ukrainian people through its charitable foundation.

The donation, which will be made by the Binance Charitable Foundation, will be divided between non-profit organizations and government organizations based in the country.

Among them is UNICEF, which has a long history of cooperating with exchanges on humanitarian issues.

Other organizations that will manage part of the funds include UNHCR, Isans, and People in Need, which will focus their efforts on supporting displaced children and their families.

Binance also launched a crowdfunding initiative called “Humanity First – Ukraine Emergency Relief Fund,” where anyone can put part of their crypto funds toward this initiative.

“These funds will be directed to help provide emergency relief to refugees and children and to support logistics on the ground such as food, fuel, and supplies for refugees,” according to the company.

Meanwhile, amid Ukraine’s conflict with Russia, bitcoin trading volumes tied to Russian ruble pairs have surged in recent days.

Metrics recorded by the crypto analytics provider, Kaiko, show that ruble-denominated bitcoin volume reached close to 1.5 billion rubles four days ago on Feb. 24.

The data also shows that bitcoin-ruble pairs saw a significant premium on Feb. 28, jumping 16 percent above the global average.

Bitcoin saw its biggest rally on Monday as it jumped over $6,000 at one point to cross $44,000.

Daily trading

Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded higher on Tuesday, rising by 17.42 percent to $44,650 at 4:34 p.m. Riyadh time.

Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $2,998, up by 14.57 percent, according to data from CoinDesk.