Russia-Ukraine crisis got exacerbated with Ukraine claiming seven killings in the Russian attacks after President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation claiming it is intended to protect civilians. To make it worse, Putin warned other nations that any attempt to interfere would lead to “consequences they have never seen”. Such geopolitical tension was destructive from investment's point of view, which threw markets into a tizzy.
Even cryptocurrency markets globally were not untouched either. Bitcoin trades at $35,337, 8.66 percent lower. At the same time, Ethereum trades at $2,368, 12.61 percent lower; ripple trades at $0.63446, 12.89 percent, Solana at $82.20, lower by 8.7 percent, Terra at $52.23, down by 8.2 percent and Cardano at $0.768, down by 16.86 percent, as per CoinDesk data.
At the same time, a few obscure digital currencies managed to buck the trend. NuCypher was trading 5 percent higher at $0.434 on Thursday, Pax Gold was 3.64 percent higher at $1,974 and Paxos Standard 0.7 percent higher at $0.998, Coindesk data reveals.
Meanwhile, Ethereum co-founder Vitalik Buterin, who is incidentally of Russian origin, condemned Russian President's military action soon after the cryptocurrencies nosedived, reported Fortune.
Buterin also tweeted that Ethereum, a decentralised blockchain, is albeit neutral but its co-founder is not - in an implicit stand against Russia.
Bitcoin prices in past five days
| Date | Price ($ per unit) |
| Feb 23 | 37,296 |
| Feb 22 | 38,286 |
| Feb 21 | 37,075 |
| Feb 20 | 38,431 |
| Feb 19 | 40,122 |
| Feb 18 | 40,0131 |
(Source: CoinMarketCap)
Ethereum price in past few days
| Date | Price ($ per unit) |
| Feb 23 | 2,590 |
| Feb 22 | 2,639 |
| Feb 21 | 2,573 |
| Feb 20 | 2,628 |
| Feb 19 | 2,763 |
| Feb 18 | 2,785 |
(Source: CoinMarketCap)
Meanwhile, the investor sentiment for cryptocurrencies is low in India as the government is set to take a proposal to the GST Council to levy Good and Services Tax (GST) on entities that provide a mining platform for cryptocurrency assets and those which use virtual digital assets as a medium of exchange in purchases.
Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) Chairman Vivek Johri said the proposal could be to tax these of 18 per cent.