Russian President Vladimir Putin announced on Wednesday night a “military operation”, in Ukraine. Strikes are underway on Ukrainian cities. The news sent financial markets down early this morning, including crypto-currencies.
Russia attacks Ukraine
After weeks of tension, the conflict between Russia and Ukraine finally broke out overnight. Vladimir Putin spoke at around 4am UK time, announcing a “special military operation”.
Since then, strikes have been carried out in Ukraine’s largest cities by the Russian armed forces, including Kiev and Odessa. This morning, Russian tanks were reportedly seen crossing the border from Crimea, in what appears to be the start of the ground invasion.
While the international community has met in emergency, and NATO statements are expected soon, the news has just begun to have a palpable effect on the global financial markets, including the cryptocurrency markets.
Stocks and cryptocurrencies fall
The Moscow and St. Petersburg stock exchanges announced they were suspending trading early this morning. In Asia, the stock exchanges that are the first to open are themselves in the red. The Nikkei and the Hang Seng are both down, by -1.81% and -2.98% respectively.
On the cryptocurrency side, the effect is also being felt. Starting in the middle of the night, the price of Bitcoin (BTC) plummeted. The largest cryptocurrency is down -12.5% since yesterday afternoon:
Bitcoin falls on Russia/Ukraine conflict (Source: TradingView, BTC/USDT)
For other crypto currencies, the trend is the same. Ether (ETH) is down -11.9% over the last 24 hours, as is Binance’s BNB. Ripple’s XRP is down -11%, Solana’s SOL is down -8.4%, and Cardano’s ADA is down -14.9%. In total, the cryptocurrency markets have lost $160 billion since yesterday.
The situation remains very uncertain, and international responses are still being awaited early this morning. So we should know more in the coming hours.
