Bitcoin and other major cryptocurrencies fell Monday evening as the Russia-Ukraine situation seemingly took a turn for the worse. The global cryptocurrency market cap decreased 3.2% to $1.68 trillion.
| Coin | 24-hour | 7-day | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) | -3.7% | -12.6% | $37,226.41 |
| Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) | -2.4% | -11.1% | $2,596.31 |
| Dogecoin (CRYPTO: DOGE) | -5.5% | -10.7% | $0.13 |
| Cryptocurrency | 24-Hour % Change (+/-) | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Anchor Protocol (ANC) | +10.25% | $2.42 |
| UNUS SED LEO (LEO) | +1.7% | $5.85 |
| TerraUSD (UST) | +0.08% | $1 |
See Also: How To Buy Bitcoin (BTC)
Why It Matters: On Monday, Russia’s President Vladimir Putin recognized two breakaway regions in Eastern Ukraine as independent and ordered “peacekeepers” to the area, according to a Reuters report.
Witnesses report seeing columns of military vehicles, including tanks, around Donetsk, the capital of one of the two regions, Reuters reported separately.
Risk assets reacted negatively to the development. S&P 500 Futures traded 1.4% lower at 4,282.50, while Nasdaq futures traded 2% lower at 13,716.75 at press time.
Both Bitcoin and Ethereum were below the psychologically important $40,000 and $3,000 marks at press time.
Cryptocurrency trader Justin Bennett tweeted that the odds of a diplomatic solution to the Russia-Ukraine situation just “dropped dramatically.”
Translation: The odds of a diplomatic solution to all of this just dropped dramatically https://t.co/KoNosGdWpJ
— Justin Bennett (@JustinBennettFX) February 21, 2022
Fellow trader, Michaël van de Poppe said the world has shown why Bitcoin is needed. He pointed to the freezing of accounts in Canada due to the declaration of emergency in that country and the “useless war” in Ukraine as examples.
In such a short timeframe, the world has shown why #Bitcoin is needed.
The fact that someone can freeze your account in Canada, without any reason, is one.
The fact that you need to run for a useless war in Ukraine, is also one.
Fundamentally more bullish than ever.
— Michaël van de Poppe (@CryptoMichNL) February 21, 2022
Bitcoin traders are favoring shorting over longing on exchanges as the apex coin trades below the $40,000 mark, Santiment noted in a tweet.
With prices still hovering below $40k on a mild negative #Bitcoin drop Monday, we see the crowd is starting to favor #shorting over #longing on exchanges once again. This #bearish funding rate can cause liquidations that shoot up prices in a hurry. https://t.co/rkWiKCjWEI pic.twitter.com/UX1y5E9Hu1
— Santiment (@santimentfeed) February 21, 2022
“This [bearish] funding rate can cause liquidations that shoot up prices in a hurry,” said the platform in its post.
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