Millions of Dollars’ Worth of Cryptocurrencies Are Being Traded Between China and Russia Each Day; Mostly in the Form of Tether

Every day, the Chinese importers who are in Russia buy up to 30 million dollars’ worth of Tether from the crypto black market in Moscow. They do so to send this money back to their homeland of China. The reason is that China has some strict capital control rules and not just anyone can bring dollars into the country.
These Chinese importers used to opt for Bitcoin, but after the Bitcoin market crashed in 2018, they switched to Tether.
Tether (USDT) is a stablecoin backed by the U.S. dollar. Stablecoin is a type of cryptocurrencies whose value is stable and unchanging because it is backed by a fiat money. Therefore, a Tether is equal to one U.S. dollar without the heavy price volatilities that Bitcoin experiences.
However, like any good thing in the world, stablecoins can also be used for illicit activities.
In an astonishing report released by the crypto news website Coindesk, it turned out that some Russian dealers of cryptocurrencies who are active in the crypto black market, sell around 3 million dollars’ worth of cryptocurrencies every day. Chinese importers are the ones who purchase these cryptocurrencies; most of these purchased cryptocurrencies go back to China.
But something peculiar takes place in the Russian crypto black market. Most of the cryptocurrencies purchased, in fact 80 percent of them, is the cryptocurrency Tether. This is not seen in anywhere else in the world. All over the world Bitcoin comprises the majority of crypto purchases.
But why Tether? The reason Chinese importers in Russia choose Tether is that there is no limit to how much they can buy. And, as mentioned earlier, it lacks the price volatilities of other cryptocurrencies.
A number of judicial authorities in the United States have questioned the founding company of Tether regarding its backup and whether it is used in illicit ways by certain entities. However, despite all this the value of Tether has always remained around 1 dollar.
Therefore, it can be seen why Chinese importers use Tether. They can easily send millions of dollars to their homeland of China without having to go through conventional methods. They don’t have to pay high transfer fees. And they do not have to abide by international laws and possible sanctions.
Even at one point the Bank of Russia tried to investigate the crypto black markets. But the investigation did not amount to much. Such crypto black markets are still in operation and Chinese importers are still sending millions of dollars to China every day.
 

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