Risk returns to crypto as some Bitcoin donations make their way to Ukraine

Bitcoin and digital assets analyst Marcus Sotiriou says that risk-on sentiment is back in the crypto market after Thursday’s sell-off that wiped off $143 million in BTC shorts within hours.

Bitcoin had dipped to lows of $34,600 early as investors freaked out amid news of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. However, early trades on Friday saw a huge bounce to highs above $39,600. The picture was similar in the stock markets, with US stocks looking to mirror gains in Asia and Europe.

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Sotiriou, an analyst at UK-based digital assets firm GlobalBlock, said that the remarkable recovery puts bulls in a position to take control and continue higher.

Of the downside pressure seen in the week, he noted:

“It appears that the invasion was a ‘sell the rumour, buy the news’ event, where risk-on assets were bought aggressively as it was confirmed that Russia were indeed invading. The market dislikes uncertainty so as soon as we had some clarity of the long-lasting crisis, buyers stepped in.”

Long term holders are “aggressively buying the dip”

On the possibility of a fresh sell-off, the digital assets analyst told Invezz in a note:

“On-chain metrics suggest that long-term investors remain unphased,” pointing to the fact that long-term holders have aggressively bought the dip, even as short-term holders continue to sell.

He noted that data has shown short-term holders’ “loss [is] increasing, whilst ‘LTH (long-term holder) loss has been decreasing.”

Another indicator of a likely resilience in the market includes the increased investment inflows from long-term holders into products such as the Canadian Purpose Bitcoin spot ETF. The firm’s assets under management have soared to over 32,000 BTC, with nearly 1,200 BTC added in a day.

According to Sotiriou, this outlook is adding to the “confluence” of institutional interest in Bitcoin.

Bitcoin donations to Ukraine soar

The uptick across the crypto market also happened amid an increasingly popular donation effort from crypto holders towards the Ukrainian army. With Ukraine regulators having recently made Bitcoin legal, donors found it easy to send funds, most of it to the non-profit organisation Come Back Alive.

According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, $675,000 worth of BTC was donated to the NGO on 24 February. On Friday, that amount skyrocketed to over $4.1 million, with over $3 million from a single donor.

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) currently trades around $39,330, about 9% higher in the past 24 hours.