Crypto market update
The crypto market volatility is back in the past few days, propelled by the escallation of the conflict between Ukraine and Russia. Bitcoin experienced a massive price slump to just over $34,000 and just as fast recovery to above $38,000. Most altcoins are now also well in the green numbers on a 24h scale after the market drop from yesterday. The total crypto market cap is up by about $140 billion since yesterday’s low and is close to $1.8 trillion.
Bitcoin (BTC) is now trading at 38,493 USD up by 9.3% in 24h
Ethereum (ETH) is now for 2,607 USD up by 10.6% in 24h
PlatonCoin (PLTC) is now for 0,530 USD down by 4.4% in 24h
Total marketcap is currently at 1.79 trillion USD up by 8.6% in 24h
(all data valid at the time of publishing, from Coingecko.com)
Daily news update
Cryptocurrencies and Ukraine crisis: Trading volume in Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna has more than tripled by Friday since Russia invaded the Eastern European nation, according to CoinGecko data. Bitcoin is currently trading at a 7% premium at the Ukrainian exchange, indicating local demand outpacing available supply since the attacks.
Crypto donations and Ukraine: After Putin’s order to invade Ukraine, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and volunteer groups in the country have gathered more than $4 million in cryptocurrency contributions. One NGO received more than $675,000 in Bitcoin (BTC) on February 24 alone, and by 9:30 a.m. on Friday, February 25, it had already received more than $3.4 million — more than $3 million of which came from a single contributor.
Ethereum whales and stablecoins: Data from whale-watching platform WhaleStats shows that the top 1,000 richest ETH wallets in the world are loading up on stablecoins amid the market sell-off. During the last day, dollar-pegged stablecoin Tether (USDT) has become the second-most purchased token among Ethereum whales. Fellow stablecoins Binance USD (BUSD) and USD Coin (USDC) are on the second and third spot on the list.
Russia and cryptocurrencies: United States President Joe Biden promised a wave of sanctions on Russian banks and financial institutions. He stated that after speaking to G7 leaders, there was total agreement in a combined effort to exclude Russia from the global economy by limiting its access to major currencies. In addition to the sanctions, the exclusion of the country from the SWIFT payments network is also being considered. This will limit the ability of funds to be transferred to Russian banks from overseas. According to Bloomberg, Russian billionaires and oligarchs may well switch to cryptocurrencies in order to circumnavigate any financial blockades.