CHENNAI: As Russia launched a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday, fearing further price drops, crypto investors offloaded their digital assets. Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, slashed to a one-month low and was trading below USD 35,000 in the noon.
Other altcoins such as Ethereum and Binance Coin too fell 12 per cent on Thursday. The global cryptocurrency market cap is now USD 1.56 trillion, a 9.61 per cent drop in the last 24 hours. In India, rupee terms, Bitcoin fell nearly 8 per cent to trade at Rs 27,55,164, while Ethereum slashed 12 per cent to Rs 1,85,000.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped to its lowest since the start of the year as the world braces itself for a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, says CoinDCX. "Mirroring traditional markets, the crypto market capitalisation dipped into the reds as geopolitical uncertainties grew, drawing an increasingly interconnected relationship between digital assets and the financial markets," the exchange said.
While crypto has historically moved inversely to traditional markets - in the case of the start of the pandemic that triggered bitcoin's 2020 rally - this developing trend could be an indication of the maturation of the crypto sector and its growing position in mainstream finance, it added.
Going forward, with no end in sight for the ongoing geopolitical conflict, the digital asset sector may face extended uncertainties.