The demand for cold wallets has been declining in Russia on a large scale. The fall in demand for cold wallets has been recorded after recording a tremendous rise in the spring season.
Cold Wallets in Russia are overstocked
The sellers of the hardware cryptocurrency wallets have recently shared an update surrounding the stocks they have available for the wallets.
According to the retailers, cryptocurrency wallets are currently overstocked in Russia. The information has been by Kommersant.
Rise in Demand for Cold Wallets
A significant rise in the cold wallets for cryptocurrencies was recorded after the Russian armies invaded Ukraine. Just as the Russia-Ukraine conflict began, an explosive demand was recorded in the cold wallets for cryptocurrencies.
Throughout the months of the spring, the Russians continued buying storage wallets for the cryptocurrency assets they carried. These storage wallets were old in nature, meaning they were not connected to the internet by any means.
Sanctions over Russia
It was due to the growing sanctions on Russia due to its invasion of Ukraine that the locals were worried. As Russia invaded Ukraine, the US and its allies plus the UN implemented multiple sanctions on Russia.
The United States implemented multiple monetary sanctions on Russia that would inflict many currency restrictions on Russia. The Bank of Russia has also implemented multiple monetary restrictions since the war started.
Therefore, the people who started to move out of Russia preferred converting their savings into cryptocurrencies. For this purpose, they preferred moving their cryptocurrency funds to cold wallets to avoid any deductions or government confiscations.
Wallet Sales on Marketplaces
Moneyplace a major analytics service provider reportedly compiled the stats surrounding the sales for cold wallets on major marketplaces.
The statistics show that the hardware wallet sales on the Wildberries and Ozon marketplaces rose to the highest levels in the month of May. The sales on these marketplaces in the month of May were 16.5 million rubles.
The particular amount translates to $275,000 for the month of May. However, the numbers have slashed in the month of August.
The report shows that the sales for cold wallets on these marketplaces have dropped below 8 million rubles. The figure translates to less than $135,000.
Sales Reported by Ozon
An Ozon spokesperson claimed that the sales of cold crypto wallets increased more than five times in the first six months of 2022. The rise was compared to the sales recorded in the same period of 2021.
Throughout the period, multiple cold crypto wallets witness a rise in their sales. However, the most demanded wallets were by Tangem, Trezor, ad Ledger.
James Thompson