Is Bitcoin used to evade financial sanction?

Abstract

Using Russian-Ukraine war as an exogenous event, we investigate whether Bitcoin is used to evade financial sanctions. We follow three avenues to explore this problem. First, we investigate Bitcoin trading volume pre- and post- Russia's invasion. Second, we explored price and return relationships between Bitcoin and other major asset classes during the same period. Lastly, we investigate the associations between Bitcoin trading volume and Russia oil export by sea. Overall, our results suggest that Bitcoin is not used to evade sanctions in large scale.