Bitcoin Under Selling Pressure as Russia-Ukraine Crisis Intensifies

Bitcoin’s (BTC) price has dropped more than 5% in the previous 24 hours, due to rising hostilities between Russia and Ukraine. As per CoinMarketCap, the numero uno crypto by market cap is presently trading at roughly $37,150, down 4.8% in the previously 24 hours and nearing levels previously recorded at the start of February.

Bitcoin had already fallen to an intraday nadir of $36,488, pulling the whole cryptocurrency market down with it. Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, is now trading at $2,550, down 6.10% in 24 hours.

With a price drop of up to 12%, XRP, Cardano (ADA), and Solana (SOL) are the worst-hit among the leading ten most popular cryptocurrencies. Avalanche (AVAX), Shiba Inu (SHIB), Polygon (MATIC), Cosmos (ATOM), and Chainlink (LINK) were among the cryptocurrencies that suffered double-digit declines as the market value of the whole cryptocurrency market fell to $1.67 trillion.

Russia said Monday that it has recognized the autonomy of two separatist Eastern Ukrainian districts, escalating concerns of a massive military response. The recent events, which witnessed Russia begin moving soldiers into what is referred to as the Donetsk People’s Republic (DNR) and Luhansk People’s Republic (LNR) fairly quickly, sent world markets crashing.

The Russian ruble temporarily hit an one-and-a-half-year-low against the US dollar earlier today. The Moscow Exchange (MOEX) equities index plunged 10.50% Monday over worries of a massive military assault on Ukraine, and the drop continued on Tuesday morning after Putin’s comments on the legalization of the ‘DNR’ and ‘LNR.’