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Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) are extending gains to key levels as tensions between Russia and Ukraine seem to be boosting demand for digital assets.
Bitcoin (BTC-USD +12.0%) rose to as high as $45.1K per token in early Tuesday action, recently changing hands at $44.6K. Keep in mind that BTC is still well below its mid-November all-time high of $69.4K. Ethereum (ETH-USD +9.6%) is surging to $3.02K. The global crypto market cap is soaring nearly 13% to $1.95T, with binance coin (BNB-USD +9.5%), ripple (XRP-USD +6.3%), terra (LUNA-USD +16.1%), cardano (ADA-USD +10.0%), solana (SOL-USD +6.6%), avalanche (AVAX-USD +12.7%), dogecoin (DOGE-USD +7.7%), polygon (MATIC-USD +7.9%), wrapped bitcoin (WBTC-USD +11.8%), cosmos (ATOM-USD +12.3%) and uniswap (UNI-USD +6.0%).
In light of the crypto rebound amid a geopolitical crisis, bitcoin (BTC-USD) could “de-link from risk” and start trading more like a hedge to geopolitical instability and inflation, Chief Risk Officer for Japan at crypto trading firm B2C2 told Bloomberg. Note that gold (XAUUUSD:CUR) +0.6%, a safe haven asset with a track record going back thousands of years, is rising to $1,920 per troy ounce, but has so far been overshadowed by bitcoin’s surge. Speculators have also also piled into U.S. Treasury bonds (NASDAQ:SHY) (NASDAQ:TLT) (NASDAQ:IEF) (NYSEARCA:ZROZ) since Russia first started to invade Ukraine, implying a flight to safety narrative is taking hold.
“Bitcoin saw a significant upward move today as it appears to have slightly regained its safe haven status while the Russia-Ukraine conflict continues to intensify,” XTB Market analyst Walid Koudmani told Bloomberg.
Crypto-related stocks are also catching bids in premarket trading, including: Marathon Digital (NASDAQ:MARA) +10%, Coinbase Global (NASDAQ:COIN) +3.4%, MicroStrategy (NASDAQ:MSTR) +5.4%, Riot Blockchain (NASDAQ:RIOT) +7.1%, Bit Digital (NASDAQ:BTBT) +6.1%, Core Scientific (NASDAQ:CORZ) +6%, Silvergate Capital (NYSE:SI) +3.3% and Bakkt (NYSE:BKKT) +4.7%.
See how cryptos could be used to evade Western sanctions.