The Russia-Ukraine conflict has sparked inflationary concerns, which have pushed down the value of major cryptocurrencies on Monday. Altcoins were hit even harder than Bitcoin.
Last week's decline started with bad news throughout the week, dashing even the faintest hopes of a resolution. Other major Ukrainian cities came under heavy artillery and rocket fire from Russian soldiers.
Terra was the worst hit, losing more than 10% of its value, followed by Solana (-8%), and Avalanche (-8%). Cardano, XRP, and Ethereum all saw their prices fall by up to 6%.
Today's worldwide cryptocurrency market cap fell to $1.71 trillion, a reduction of more than 4% in the last 24 hours, according to CoinMarketCap.com. There was a 25 percent increase in total cryptocurrency trading volume, to $67.11 billion.
When 'airdropped' coins arrive in April, the Indian crypto community will be stuck in a "valuation" conundrum as they try to swap one cryptocurrency for another.
Perspective from a Subject Matter Expert
Grayscale is a major player in the bitcoin industry when it comes to digital asset management. All the way from Bitcoin to an altcoin like Livepeer can be found in its portfolio.
According to WazirX Trade Desk, Grayscale's Bitcoin Trust has $25 billion under its belt, which is an important indicator of institutional investors' interest in digital assets.
"GBTC (Grayscale Bitcoin Trust) received $140 million at the end of February, which has sparked interest. As the markets are teetering on the brink of collapse, the foregoing comment takes on greater meaning. "
Even though the current fear and greed index is currently at "severe fear," a rise in institutional interest in digital assets is a positive indicator.
Updates from all over the world
Just days after striking a 100 MW contract with Celsius Mining, Australian bitcoin miner Mawson Infrastructure Group (MIGI) has struck a 12-megawatt (MW) hosting co-location arrangement with Foundry Digital.
Trading card company Topps is moving through with its baseball-themed NFT sales, despite the uncertainty surrounding the start of the MLB season.
Proassetz Exchange's take on technology
Last week, Bitcoin attempted to break through the $45,000 barrier for the second time, but it failed. In December 2021, this level served as a support during the early stages of the downturn. There have been at least two attempts by the BTC bulls in the past month to break through the level that was firmly broken in early January, but they were thwarted.
As long as it remains below this critical resistance level, the intermediate downturn will continue.
The downside risk is also on the table. There is some support at $37,000 right now, but downtrends are renowned for breaking through support levels in the middle of the road. This week's selling possibilities will be at pullbacks of $42,000 & $45,000.
Amidst Russia's ongoing assault on Ukraine, investors disputed if Bitcoin was a safe haven asset.
Saturday was a quiet day for the world's most popular cryptocurrency. After a 17 percent surge from Monday to Wednesday, it has fallen the last two days.
Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, fell 0.4 percent to $2,669. Dogecoin's price fell 1% to $0.125566, while Shiba Inu's price rose 2.4% to $0.00002487.
CoinGecko statistics shows that Polkadot and Solana, two of the leading altcoins, were mixed in the last 24 hours.
It is putting the globe on edge as the war in Ukraine continues to intensify." "Lindsey Bell, Ally's Chief Markets and Money Strategist, said in a statement. Markets have been plagued by uncertainty, making it difficult to invest in the long term."
The first few days of the week were marked by strong increases in the cryptocurrency market, which outperformed the stock market. Speculation that Russians and Ukrainians would use digital assets to shift money increased after sanctions were imposed. Since then, things have calmed down.
It added gasoline to the fire of arguments put up by proponents who have long argued that Bitcoin is a store of value independent of financial market fluctuations. The 50-day correlation between the S&P 500 and Bitcoin is now 0.5. A factor of 1 indicates lockstep movement, while wholly unrelated behavior is defined by a value of zero.
"As with stocks or anything else, there is a segment of the investing public that views this as a high-risk investment," the Blockforce Capital portfolio manager, Brett Munster, made the comments. "Ultimately, I believe that the value narrative will prevail."
Bendik Schei, chief of research at Norway's Arcane Research, told CBS MoneyWatch that investors are "seeking to get out of the ruble" following its "drastic fall" as a result of sanctions.
"I'm not shocked that investors — at least those in Russia — are seeking stablecoins," Schei remarked. In comparison to cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, stablecoins are considered as less volatile due to their fixed value in traditional currencies like the US dollar or a hard asset such as gold.
This week's economic sanctions on Russia, which have the potential to alter currency values, may be adding to the rising uneasiness among some younger investors.
For whatever reason, there's a whole new generation of investors doubting government, says Michael Oliver, chief analyst at financial sector research firm Momentum Structural Analysis. 'Is my money safe in that bank account?' is an example of people thinking about the Ukraine-Russian situation."
He went on to say that these investors were looking to "hide their money" from authorities through the use of cryptocurrency.
Some people are also donating money to Ukraine using cryptocurrencies. According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, investors have donated more than $22 million in cryptocurrency to the Ukrainian government throughout the crisis.
George Harrap, co-founder of Solana portfolio manager Step Finance, told CBS MoneyWatch that cryptocurrency may be used "to donate to causes around the world with far less friction than the conventional banking system."
Cryptocurrency could benefit Russia's financial industry, according to political science professor David Szakonyi of George Washington University. However, he cautioned that digital currencies are unlikely to "function as a substitute for corporate transactions over time."
Reports from the Associated Press indicate that law enforcement and Treasury officials in the United States are stepping up their efforts to fight the use of cryptocurrency to escape sanctions. Despite this, a number of crypto exchanges including Coinbase, Coinberry, and KuCoin have stated that they will not deactivate Russia-based accounts, despite Western pressure to do so.
