Roblox Currency ‘Robux’ Is Outperforming the Ruble

As of this writing, the Ruble is worth about 0.012 U.S. dollars. The Robux, the money people use to buy things in Roblox, is worth about 0.0125. This means that the Robux has slightly more buying power than the Russian ruble.

The Russian economy has been in decline for some time, but both the Ruble and its main stock index took a nose dive on Thursday after Russia invaded Ukraine. As trading began that day, the Ruble collapsed and the Russian equities index, the MOEX, fell 45 percent. Both are in flux and have recovered some of their losses, but the situation with the Ruble is so dire that the Russian central bank has decided to step in and prop it up.

"Russia has financial resources enough to maintain the financial system in the light of sanctions and external threats," the Kremlin said as the markets fell Thursday.

The Russian economy has been in trouble since 2014, when it annexed Crimea and backed separatists in eastern Ukraine. Those actions triggered western sanctions that Russia still hasn’t quite recovered from. In response, the Kremlin banned certain Western goods from the country which led to a spate of bizarre viral videos of Russians destroying cheese.

Russia’s economy heavily relies on oil and gas exports. "It's basically a big gas station,” Harvard economist and former advisor to President Barack Obama told the New York Times. Russia sells most of its exports in Europe and though there’s talk of further sanctions against the Kremlin, most of the current proposals are studiously avoiding the energy market, which, if sanctioned, could further increase energy costs globally.

Instead, the United States and Europe are targeting the personal finances of oligarchs and politicians. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said it isn’t enough and has begged for the West to ban Russia from SWIFT, a global messaging system that handles trillions of dollars in financial transactions.

While Ukraine fights for its life, Europe has mulled further sanctions and some countries have made sure to secure specific carve outs for favored industries. Italy asked for an exemption for selling luxury goods in the country, Germany demanded an exemption for energy, and Belgium wanted a carve out for diamond sales.

Negotiations about the specifics of sanctions are ongoing and European leaders are meeting in Brussels Friday to attempt to hammer out a deal. Some don’t believe the EU is acting fast enough. “We have to wait until Kyiv is carpet-bombed before we can isolate Putin economically," an EU diplomat told Politico.

Moscow has made Russia an international pariah and its economy is suffering and will continue to suffer. But the Kremlin also holds $600 billion in foriegn-exchange reserves, largely oil money, but it’s hard to know how long that will last as the ruble continues to fall.