Crypto markets have lost over $140 billion in the past day as investors shun risk assets in light of the growing tensions between Russia and the Ukraine.
Bitcoin fell by more than $3,000, dipping as low as $36,500 and altcoins saw broad-based losses as well, as the escalation in tensions between Russia and the Ukraine has impacted financial markets from stocks and commodities to crypto.
Hourly BTC/USD Chart via Tradingview
While there’s been a slight recovery in prices, markets remain quite depressed as the uncertainties regarding the potential for an invasion of Ukraine by Russia are still heightened. The latest news from the region indicates that several saboteurs from Ukraine entered Russia along the southeast border over the weekend and were killed by Russian troops, although Ukrainian authorities are dismissing this as fake news.
Most recently NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg has called out Russia for moving to a position of overt military action.
“Moscow has now moved from covert attempts to destabilize Ukraine to overt military action. This is a serious escalation by Russia, and a flagrant violation of international law.”
He went on to call the current situation “the most dangerous moment in European security for a generation.”
As often happens when Bitcoin falls, the altcoins are hit even harder. Ethereum touched the $2,500 level, and remains depressed around $2,600 currently. Many of the other top ten cryptocurrencies are seeing losses of 5-10% today. The situation with smaller coins is similar and as a result the cryptocurrency market cap is down by $140 billion since yesterday and $400 billion in less than a week.
