Russia’s Likely Moves In Ukraine Scares Crypto World

By RTTNews Staff Writer | Published: 2/21/2022 6:51 AM ET

Cryptocurrency market capitalization has fallen to $1.75 trillion, from $1.86 trillion on Friday amidst reports of escalating tensions in the Ukraine-Russia border. On an overnight basis, cryptos are however higher by 0.13 percent.

Bitcoin is currently trading at $37,648.47 after hitting a 24-hour high of $39,394.44 and $37,648.47. Bitcoin had traded in the range between $40,119.89 and $38,112.81 on Sunday, between $40,418.88 and $39,713.06 on Saturday and between $40,929.15 and $39,637.62 revealing a broad pattern of lower “day-highs” and lower “day-lows”.

Ethereum is currently trading at $2,625.89 after hitting a 24-hour high of $2,752.46 and $2,585.95. Ethereum had traded in the range between $2,763.76 and $2,585.95 on Sunday, between $2,826.35 and $2,707.38 on Saturday and between $2,937.31 and $2,761.64. ETH too witnessed a pattern of lower “day-highs” and lower “day-lows.”

During the past week, overall crypto market capitalization declined by 6.42 percent, to $1.75 trillion from $1.87 trillion.

Among the top 20 cryptocurrencies excluding stablecoins, Bitcoin (BTC), Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), SHIBA INU (SHIB), Crypto.com Coin (CRO), Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) and Litecoin (LTC) have lost more than the 6.42 percent decline recorded in the overall market.

Within the same category, BNB(BNB), XRP(XRP), Terra (LUNA), Dogecoin (DOGE), Polkadot (DOT), and Polygon (MATIC) have dropped lesser than 6.42 percent in the past week.

8th ranked Solana (SOL) and 10th ranked Avalanche (AVAX) have bucked the declining trend and gained in valuations in the past week.

Reports from Russia also indicate that the Russian Finance Ministry would be considering the central bank’s proposals on cryptocurrencies, so long as it would not contradict its own approach. The Russian central bank’s proposals which mostly centered around a blanket ban on cryptocurrency trading and mining had spooked crypto market investors recently.

The Finance Ministry had on the contrary argued for a regulation and taxation-based approach. A proposal requiring customer identification for crypto currency transactions has also rattled sentiment as it would compromise the basic tenet of anonymity that cryptocurrencies aspire for.

Meanwhile, reports indicate that the United States President is likely to release a crypto executive order this week which is expected to direct government agencies to conduct detailed examinations of various areas of the crypto asset landscape in order to develop an extensive regulatory framework.

The second estimate of the 4th Quarter and Year 2021 Gross Domestic Product is due on Thursday, February 24 ahead of the Federal Reserves’ monetary policy review scheduled for the middle of March. The extent of aggressiveness in the Fed’s policy response could influence the valuations of risky assets including cryptocurrencies.

Crypto market sentiment continues to be swayed by geopolitical tensions that have refused to die down despite the talks of a high-level summit between the U.S and Russian political leadership.

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Article written by an RTT News Staff Writer, and posted on the RTT News.com website.

Article reposted on Markethive by Jeffrey Sloe