In just 24 hours, $130 billion was wiped off cryptocurrency markets as multiple coins — including Bitcoin — dropped to multi-month lows, in response to investor concerns and rising tensions over the potentially impending Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Bitcoin did experience a moderate return to positive territory on Monday after the coin continued to slide, having fallen to $32,982.11, its lowest point since July. According to CoinMarketCap, Bitcoin increased by 5% to $37,009.16 later on Monday.
Ether also dropped as low as $2,176.41, its lowest since July. According to CoinMarketCap, Ethereum has now risen by 1.49% to $2,453.43.
The broad drop in the cryptocurrency market is closely following the stock market, which has continued to fall since the beginning of 2022 and just experienced its worst week since March 2020.
Risk assets, such as technology stocks, are being sold by investors due to concerns regarding interest rates and federal policy.
“Heading into 2022, the story for tech stocks was outward rotation. Inflationary pressure was leading the Federal Reserve to signal that interest rate hikes were coming. Shares of cloud-computing companies and other high-multiple stocks that outperformed the market in recent years were plunging as the work-from-home theme fell apart,” CNBC explained.
“US stocks ended higher Monday after suffering staggering losses earlier in the session, with investors staging a rally after early concerns around the Federal Reserve,” Insider reported. “The S&P 500 dropped briefly into a correction, down more than 10% from its all-time high, but ended higher almost 0.3%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average at one point fell by more than 1,000 and the Nasdaq Composite had logged a 4% loss.”
As The Wall Street Journal noted, “The market has also been spooked by mounting tensions between the West and Russia over the military buildup on the border with Ukraine.”
8,500 U.S. troops have been placed on high alert, the Pentagon announced.
“[The Secretary of Defense] has placed a range of units in the United States on heightened preparedness to deploy, which increases our readiness to provide forces if [NATO] should activate the NATO Response Force,” the Department of Defense tweeted.
.@PentagonPresSec: @SecDef has placed a range of units in the United States on heightened preparedness to deploy, which increases our readiness to provide forces if @NATO should activate the NATO Response Force. #WeAreNATO pic.twitter.com/DxCpFo2vqg
— Department of Defense 🇺🇸 (@DeptofDefense) January 24, 2022
“Some NATO members, including Denmark, Spain, Bulgaria and the Netherlands, are already sending fighter jets and warships to eastern Europe to bolster defenses in the region,” the BBC reported.
United Kingdom Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also warned Russia that an invasion of Ukraine would be “disastrous,” and that such military action could be “their new Chechnya.”
When asked about the withdrawal of some staff from the British Embassy in Ukraine, Johnson said that the threat of an invasion has become clear.
“The intelligence is very clear that there are 60 Russian battle groups on the borders of Ukraine, the plan for a lightning war that could take out Kyiv is one that everybody can see,” Johnson said. “We need to make it very clear to the Kremlin, to Russia, that that would be a disastrous step.”
Ian Haworth is an Editor and Writer for The Daily Wire. Follow him on Twitter at @ighaworth.