How Russia’s attack on Ukraine is impacting Crypto markets

TL;DR Breakdown:

• Both crypto and traditional markets have been amid the Russia-Ukraine crisis.
• Over $450 million worth of crypto positions were liquidated.
• Gold is currently seeing more preference as a safe-haven asset. 

The fear of another war outbreak has been looming amongst investors around the world over the past few weeks, following the recent crisis between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. Things got intense late Wednesday as several media outlets reported that Russia has launched an attack on Ukraine territory. 

Both the traditional and crypto market is reacting negatively to this event, as prices are tanking due to fear amongst investors. At the time of writing, S&P 500 was down by 79.26 points to 4,225.50, including the S&P/ASX 200 (-215.10 to 6,990.60), Dow Jones Index (-464.85 to 33,131.76), and others. 

On the 24-hour chart, Bitcoin and Ethereum were down by 8.10% to $35,458 and 12.11% to 2,385, respectively. Other major altcoins in the top-ten category are down by at least 6%, dragging the overall crypto market capitalization down by over 8% to $1.59 trillion during the time of writing.

Over $450 million liquidated in crypto

Crypto derivatives traders, especially those with open Bitcoin long positions, weren’t spared from the losses. According to data from Coinglass, about $455.62 million worth of crypto positions have been liquidated for the past 24 hours, and the largest single liquidation order happened on BitMEX – LINKUSD valued at $3.21 million. In total, over $140 million in BTC positions were liquated, followed by the $120.24 million in Ether. 

DeFi traders are also suffering the hit, as nearly $1 million worth of crypto positions were liquidated on Compound Finance, in the wake of the news on Russia’s attack.

The state of the market

The new development between Russia and Ukraine is bearish for cryptocurrency and the global market. Rumors of war incite fear amongst investors, which is unhealthy for any market. Hence, cryptocurrencies are likely to face more hits if the crisis between Russia and Ukraine intensifies. 

Meanwhile, this present situation could also highlight the world’s preferred safe haven asset between gold and Bitcoin, as people are likely to begin tagging along what they feel would protect their capital, should the crisis intensify. The topic of “best safe-haven asset” has been highly debated among gold and Bitcoin proponents, with Bitcoin supporters always pointing at the price differences and growth. 

At the moment, however, gold seems to be on the lead, as it recently reached a year high amidst the Russia-Ukraine crisis.