Market Wrap: Cryptocurrencies and Stocks Drop as Russia-Ukraine Tensions Rise

Most cryptocurrencies declined on Friday as traders reacted to geopolitical risks emanating from Russia and Ukraine.

On Friday, U.S. President Biden urged Americans to leave Ukraine immediately, warning “an invasion could begin at any time.” For now, the U.S. has ruled out sending troops into Ukraine despite Russia's military activities.

Bitcoin (BTC) dropped as much as 5% over the past 24 hours, compared with a 4% decline in ETH and a 7% dip in SOL. Stocks were also lower while traditional safe havens such as gold and the U.S. dollar rose. Markets eventually stabilized later in the New York trading day.

Technical indicators are mostly neutral for bitcoin, showing support at $35,000-$40,000 and resistance at $46,000.

Over the past 10 days, a majority of trading volume occurred at $41K-$41.5K BTC, according to Jason Pagoulatos, an analyst at Delphi Digital, a crypto research firm. "If that level is lost, we likely move towards the volume gaps left behind, which happens to coincide with $38.5K."

Latest prices

●Bitcoin BTC$92,644.86: $42334, −4.23%

●Ether ETH$3,258.36: $2914, −6.53%

●S&P 500 daily close: $4418, −1.90%

●Gold: $1865 per troy ounce, +1.55%

●Ten-year Treasury yield daily close: 1.96%

Bitcoin, ether and gold prices are taken at approximately 4pm New York time. Bitcoin is the CoinDesk Bitcoin Price Index (XBX); Ether is the CoinDesk Ether Price Index (ETX); Gold is the COMEX spot price. Information about CoinDesk Indices can be found at coindesk.com/indices.

Bitcoin dominance rises

Bitcoin's market capitalization relative to the overall crypto market cap rose above 40% this week. Typically, traders overweight bitcoin during market downturns because of its lower risk profile relative to alternative cryptocurrencies (altcoins).

During the 2018 crypto bear market, the BTC dominance ratio rose from a low of 35% to a high of 72%. And over the past year, the ratio declined by 30 percentage points as altcoins rallied ahead of bitcoin.

Some analysts expect bitcoin to remain under pressure for a few more months. "In last spring’s drawdown, it took about six months for bitcoin to recover," NYDIG, a bitcoin holding company, wrote in a newsletter this week. "A similar timeline in the current drawdown would put a recovery date sometime in May."

Altcoin roundup

• Polkadot incentives: Astar Network, a parachain or parallel chain of the Polkadot network, has announced the $100 million Astar Boost Program fund to provide liquidity and offer financial support and incentive programs to smart contract developers. The company told CoinDesk that the program was funded through $22 million in fundraising, as well as an allocation of the native ASTR token. Read more here.
• Tether blacklists Ethereum address linked to Multichain hack: The address traces back to hackers who stole $3 million in cryptocurrency on the cross-chain bridge Multichain nearly a month ago, according to Etherscan's labeling of transactions involving the wallet as well as a CoinDesk analysis. Whoever controls the address won't be able to move funds so long as they are frozen. Read more here.
• NFT-linked house sells for $650K: Real estate startup Propy has sold its first NFT-backed property in the U.S., the company announced Friday. The 2,164-square-foot house in Gulfport, Fla., fetched $653,000 (210 ETH) at auction, with the winning bidder being awarded a non-fungible token as proof of the home’s ownership. Read more here.

Relevant news

• Intel Launches Crypto Mining Initiative; Argo, Block to Get First Chips This Year
• FTX US to Launch Stock Trading Soon
• Bitcoin Miner Merkle Standard Teams With Bitmain for 500 MW Data Center Development
• Hungary’s Central Bank Head Calls on EU to Ban Crypto Mining and Trading
• Coinbase Teams Up With One River to Offer Separately Managed Accounts

Other markets

Digital assets in the CoinDesk 20 ended the day lower.

Largest losers:

Asset Ticker Returns Sector Solana SOL −10.7% Smart Contract Platform Polygon MATIC −10.7% Smart Contract Platform Internet Computer ICP −9.5% Computing

Sector classifications are provided via the Digital Asset Classification Standard (DACS), developed by CoinDesk Indices to provide a reliable, comprehensive, and standardized classification system for digital assets. The CoinDesk 20 is a ranking of the largest digital assets by volume on trusted exchanges.