The crypto market fell heavily on Thursday due to the growing scale of war in Ukraine as missiles continue to rain down on its capital city, Kyiv, while its airport was captured by airborne troops.
According to data from FTX exchange, the flagship crypto was down 9% to $34.7K at the time of this writing. There were 142,623 liquidations for the day. On Bitmex, the largest single liquidation order was $3.21 million – LINKUSD.
With many altcoins suffering steep losses, the crypto market is down more than 10% for the day.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin warned the United States and NATO against intervening in the Ukrainian conflict.
“Anyone who wishes to interfere with us, or, even worse, to threaten our country and our people, must know that the Russian response will be immediate and will bring you consequences like you have never experienced before,” Putin said. “We are prepared for whatever happens.”
As soon as possible, the US and its allies will impose broad sanctions on Russia. Russia is not expected to be cut off from the global financial system by these sanctions, which target Russian banks, Putin’s cabinet, and his circle of business associates.
To prepare for the loss of SWIFT access, Russia is developing a central bank digital currency.
Ethereum founder, Vitalik Buterin, who grew up in Kolomna, Russia, has tweeted at about 4am UTC in Russian (according to a rough translation):
“I am very unhappy about Putin’s decision to go to war instead of attempting to reach a peaceful settlement with Ukraine. I consider this a crime against the Russian and Ukrainian people. It is my wish to wish all of you security, even if there will be none. God bless Ukraine.”
Crypto markets aren’t the only ones scared. As the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.38% today, U.S. stock markets continued into correction territory. As a result of Putin’s announcement, Asian markets are reacting. The Nikkei is down 1% and the Hang Seng is down over 2%.
These events are very reminiscent of Hitler’s expansionist drive which started the 2nd world war in Europe. Just like Hitler, Mr Putin seems to be emboldened by his country’s military might and the fact that just a few months or years after a major world crises (in Hitler’s time – WW1; in the present time – covid-19), no western country is prepared to go into military war. I also believe that the Russians smartly timed their move into Ukraine at a period when Republicans had lost power in the US. because Democrats rarely go to war without a military provocation against US citizens. In my opinion, Mr Putin would likely have his way on this occasion. But let’s hope he stops after Ukraine and does not continue (like Hitler did) under the ideology of reconstituting the old Soviet Union.