Russia has turned to cryptocurrencies to facilitate oil trade with China and India, effectively bypassing Western sanctions in its $192 billion oil trade, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

The country has been slowly moving deeper into the cryptocurrency space. Just this week, the Bank of Russia submitted proposals to create an experimental legal regime (ELR) lasting three years, allowing a “limited group of Russian investors” to trade cryptocurrencies.

Some Russian oil firms use bitcoin, ether, and stablecoins such as Tether (USDT) to convert payments made in Chinese yuan and Indian rupees into roubles, the Reuters report said. These transactions currently represent a fraction of Russia’s oil trade.

Other sanctioned countries, including Iran and Venezuela, have used crypto to maintain trade while avoiding reliance on the U.S. dollar, the dominant currency in global oil markets.

Russia has developed multiple payment systems to navigate sanctions, and crypto is one of several tools the country uses. Fiat currencies remain the primary method used in Russia’s oil transactions, and other workarounds include using currencies such as the United Arab Emirates dirham, Reuters said.

The report also added that even if sanctions were lifted, Russia would likely keep using crypto in its oil trades as it’s seen as a convenient, flexible tool. The country, meanwhile, is currently looking to get its largest banks to support a digital ruble for retail and commercial use.

The Bank of Russia said that a ruble-backed central bank digital currency could be used as a tool against sanctions back in 2021.

Read more: U.S.-Sanctioned Countries Such as Iran Leaning Heavily Into Crypto: Chainalysis

CoinDesk Indices presents its daily market update, highlighting the performance of leaders and laggards in the CoinDesk 20 Index.

The CoinDesk 20 is currently trading at 2604.12, up 3.3% (+83.6) since 4 p.m. ET on Thursday.

All 20 assets are trading higher.

Leaders: LINK (+9.7%) and DOT (+6.7%).

Laggards: BCH (+1.3%) and UNI (+1.9%).

The CoinDesk 20 is a broad-based index traded on multiple platforms in several regions globally.

Layer-2 network ZKsync has announced that it will be sunsetting the Ignite Program, which rewarded users for providing liquidity, due to bearish market conditions.

«After careful consideration, the DeFi Steering Committee (DSC) has decided to not renew Ignite for Season 2 and will be sunsetting the program starting March 17th, 2025 by turning off rewards for period 6,» ZKsync posted on X.

It added that the long-term vision is centered around the Elastic Network, which is composed of multiple chains within the ZKsync ecosystem.

«Unfortunately we’re navigating a bearish market right now. In line with many other ecosystems, ZKsync has decided to be more conservative with spend in the short to medium term in response to these evolving conditions,» it added. «To stay sustainable, we’re tightening our focus and spending smarter, rather than fighting headwinds.»

Total value locked (TVL) on ZKsync is down by around 50% since Jan. 30 as the wider crypto market is grappling with a correction that has seen bitcoin and ether lose 13% and 27% of their respective market caps in the past month.

ZKsync’s native token (ZK) has plunged by 35% in the same period.