As Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday recognised the independence of two separatist regions in eastern Ukraine defying warnings from the West, Ukraine crisis is getting intensified with every passing moment.
This is triggering serious repercussions on financial and commodity markets alike. And when the global markets are facing heat with geopolitical tension casting its long shadow over it, cryptocurrency markets are not insulated from it either.
Bitcoin fell nearly 5 percent to trade at $37,151, on Tuesday at 14.29 GMT while Ethereum slipped 6.26 percent to $2,546, as per the CoinDesk data.
At the same time, Ripple prices tanked by 12 percent to $0.69 per unit, Solana declined 11 percent to $83.72, Polkadot at $16.16 (7.26 percent lower) and Cardano at $0.84 (12.61 percent lower), show CoinDesk data.
International prices of Bitcoin in past one week
| Date | Prices ($/unit) |
| Feb 16 | 43,962 |
| Feb 17 | 40,538 |
| Feb 18 | 40,031 |
| Feb 19 | 40,122 |
| Feb 20 | 38,431 |
| Feb 21 | 37,075 |
(Source: CoinMarketCap)
Crypto wallet Zyngo's CEO Ouriel OHAYON aptly tweeted that it appears Russia is not attacking Ukraine, but cryptos.
Industry experts argue that the Ukraine crisis is followed by a decline in crypto prices since the East European country is known for its crypto mining capabilities.
Vikas Ahuja, CEO of Cross Tower India says, “Ukraine is one of the top countries for mining activity on different crypto blockchains. Border tensions in Ukraine certainly had an impact there. The crypto investor community may have offloaded their risky digital assets to protect their portfolios from further price drops - hence, the impact of this crisis is evident on prices as well.”
One might wonder if the abrupt fall in crypto prices has anything to do with the ongoing geopolitical tensions in Ukraine.
On this, Mr Ahuja says, “It’s all always interlinked. When there is geopolitical tension, investors tend to pull money from the market and put it into a safer asset class. Cryptocurrency is no different, as we always see ups and downs whenever there is geopolitical tension, for example, the Indian stock market has plunged points due to the Ukrainian crisis. The world markets are also impacted and so is the case with crypto.”
So, we can see that the crypto markets, just as their financial and commodity counterparts, are facing serious repercussions of Russia’s attack on Ukraine.
Could be a good opportunity for serious crypto enthusiasts?