Crypto market update
Bitcoin and other major cryptos declined on a dark Thursday in Ukraine. Bitcoin continued to lose value and dipped toward a five-day low of under $41,000. The altcoins are also in the red once more with substantial price losses from Ethereum and Solana. The cumulative market capitalization of all digital assets dropped by approximately $100 billion in a day to $1.8 trillion.
Bitcoin (BTC) is now trading at 41,738 USD down by 4.1% in 24h
Ethereum (ETH) is now for 2,746 USD down by 6.1% in 24h
PlatonCoin (PLTC) is now for 0,570 USD up by 0.1% in 24h
Total marketcap is currently at 1.921 trillion USD down by 3.7% in 24h
(all data valid at the time of publishing, from Coingecko.com)
Daily news update
South Korean exchanges and Ukraine crisis: Upbit, Bithumb, Coinone, and Korbit announced restrictions to block Russian IP addresses on Thursday, bringing the total to five in the nation. The four exchanges are the only local platforms licensed to provide cash-to-crypto transactions.
Swiss Lugano and Bitcoin: Aiming to become Europe’s Bitcoin capital, Lugano, Switzerland, has formed a partnership with stablecoin issuer Tether to establish bitcoin, Tether and Lugano’s own LVGA Points token as essentially legal tender in the city.
MetaMask and problems accessing service: Reports are emerging that MetaMask users in certain countries are unable to access the service. This has sparked a wave of criticism about censorship. The critics point to a statement in MetaMask’s troubleshooting page, where it says that it is unable to serve users in certain jurisdictions. One of these countries is Venezuela, which has been known to have an enthusiastic user base for crypto. Iran, Cuba, and Syria are also some of the other countries affected, according to users on Twitter.
Emerging markets and crypto: A recent survey has revealed that a whopping 75% of investors in Asia-Pacific and Latin American emerging markets are looking to increase their exposure to cryptocurrency investments. Emerging markets appear to be the most lucrative markets for growth in the cryptocurrency industry as 32% of consumers surveyed have trust in cryptocurrency compared to just 14% in developed markets such as the U.S. and E.U.