Cryptocurrencies took a fall on Thursday after Russia launched an attack on Ukraine in what is already being tagged World War 3. According to data from CoinMarketCap, in the last 24 hours over $150 billion has been wiped off from the entire cryptocurrency market.
The attack on Ukraine by Russia follows the former’s allegations that the country’s Defense Ministry and Armed Forces websites, as well as two state banks, suffered a cyberattack initiated by Russia. Explosions have been reported in Ukraine’s capital city of Kyiv, signalling that the country is on fire – literally and figuratively!
Per data from CoinDesk, Bitcoin was down over 8 percent at $34,702.18 at around 2.25 a.m. E.T. on Thursday. This signifies a one-month low for the crypto. Ethereum’s network Ether was down over 12 percent trading at $2,325.18.
The fall in the crypto market follows an upheaval in the global equity markets as the Russia-Ukraine debacle continues to escalate. There lies a correlation between the movement of risk assets such as stock and the movement in prices of cryptocurrencies. In other words, as markets such as the stock market get affected by external forces, so does the crypto market.
Russia has received sanctions from the US and the UK and the European Union is having an emergency meeting today on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and more sanctions will mostly be on the way.
The recent “attack” on Bitcoin follows a series of fluctuations faced by the cryptocurrency last year based on extreme regulations from regulators and governments, Tesla’s rejection, amongst other factors. Bitcoin has fallen almost 50 percent from its all-time high of $69,000 due to these pressures and although there is a positive outlook for the crypto asset this year, it may need more time to “heal”.
While Bitcoin is expected to hit new highs this year, University of Sussex’s professor of finance Alexander Carol expects Bitcoin to fall as low as $10,000.
Speaking on the effect of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Bitcoin, Luno’s Vice President of Corporate Development – Vijay Ayyar, said that “Risk assets continue to be weighed down by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and tensions. This includes Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies which are currently still very much viewed as a high-risk asset class”.
He also said that Bitcoin could further plunge below $30,000 and if it manages to hold above that, then it is possible that new highs could be recorded later this year.
Du Jun, co-founder of crypto exchange platform Huobi explained that the Bitcoin bull market is prone to a process he termed “halving” and said this is expected to happen every few years as Bitcoin experiences bull markets. According to him, the next Bitcoin bull market should come around 2024.
As of the time of completing this draft, Bitcoin had risen slightly and was trading at $35,425.40.
Ibhadojemu Lucky Emmanuel is a graduate of Education and Economics from the University of Benin. He has a passion for tech and business and has been writing professionally for over a period of five years. He's written across various topics and segments and knew tech-business was it when he first stumbled on it. He has a great passion for music and arts, and wants to visit as many countries as he can someday.
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