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First Mover: Bitcoin Rally Stalls Amid Skepticism Over Russia Pullback
The latest moves in crypto markets in context for Feb. 16, 2022.
Автор Shaurya Malwa, Bradley Keoun
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Good morning, and welcome to First Mover. Here's what's happening this morning:
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- Market Moves: This week's rally in crypto markets appeared to be cooling as skepticism grew over Russia's pullback from Ukraine.
- ALSO: Algorand's ALGO token leads gains among the CoinDesk 20, and the metaverse-related tokens SAND and AXS jumped.
And check out the CoinDesk TV show "First Mover," hosted by Christine Lee, Emily Parker and Lawrence Lewitinn at 9:00 a.m. U.S. Eastern time. Today's show will feature guests:
- Lennix Lai, director of financial markets, OKX
- Alex Bornyakov, deputy minister, Ukraine Ministry of Digital Transformation
- Jared Polis, governor of Colorado.
Market Moves
By Shaurya Malwa
Bitcoin surged past $44,000 late Tuesday in its biggest gain in more than a week but on Wednesday appeared to be losing steam.
Crypto markets cooled as major cryptocurrencies hit resistance levels. Bitcoin faced resistance at the $44,300-$45,500 price levels, and low volume indicated weak buying strength.
Algorand's ALGO token was the biggest gainer among the CoinDesk 20 digital assets, with a 6.4% rise. Filecoin's FIL token climbed 5.2%.
Investors in traditional markets grew more cautious as Western officials expressed skepticism over a quick de-escalation of the Russia-Ukraine tensions.
Outside of major cryptocurrencies, metaverse tokens continued to surge on Wednesday. In the past 24 hours, Decentraland’s MANA was up 10.5%, The Sandbox’s SAND up 6% and Axie Infinity’s AXS up 11%. The tokens are used for blockchain-based games in separate virtual worlds broadly referred to as a “metaverse."
Meanwhile, traders said the general outlook for cryptos remained bullish amid improving sentiment for asset classes globally.
"After a strong rebound following January's 7.5% CPI print, cryptocurrencies have pulled back in line with traditional markets,” said Will Hamilton, head of trading at Trovio Capital Management, in an email to CoinDesk.
Read More: Bitcoin Traders Preparing for Tumultuous March, Glassnode Says
Latest Headlines
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- Red Bull's F1 Team Signs $150M Sponsorship Deal With Crypto Exchange Bybit
- Chainalysis Says ‘Criminal Whales' Account for 4% of the Overall Pod
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- FCA Concerned Over Binance Gaining Access to UK Payment Network: Report
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ICYMI
In case you missed it, here are the most recent episodes of "First Mover" on CoinDesk TV:
"First Mover" hosts speak to The Wall Street Journal "Heard on the Street" Editor Spencer Jakab as he explains the thesis in his latest book "The Revolution That Wasn't: GameStop, Reddit, and the Fleecing of Small Investors." Prices of bitcoin and altcoins are up on the heels of Russia's partial pullback of troops near the border with Ukraine. Seth Ginns of CoinFund provides his market analysis. Plus, CoinDesk's Nikhilesh De shares the latest news from the hearing of the couple with alleged ties to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
More For You
KuCoin captured a record share of centralised exchange volume in 2025, with more than $1.25tn traded as its volumes grew faster than the wider crypto market.
알아야 할 것:
- KuCoin recorded over $1.25 trillion in total trading volume in 2025, equivalent to an average of roughly $114 billion per month, marking its strongest year on record.
- This performance translated into an all-time high share of centralised exchange volume, as KuCoin’s activity expanded faster than aggregate CEX volumes, which slowed during periods of lower market volatility.
- Spot and derivatives volumes were evenly split, each exceeding $500 billion for the year, signalling broad-based usage rather than reliance on a single product line.
- Altcoins accounted for the majority of trading activity, reinforcing KuCoin’s role as a primary liquidity venue beyond BTC and ETH at a time when majors saw more muted turnover.
- Even as overall crypto volumes softened mid-year, KuCoin maintained elevated baseline activity, indicating structurally higher user engagement rather than short-lived volume spikes.
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Coinbase’s Base faces builder backlash over creator coin push
Builders on Base are pushing back against the network’s close alignment with Zora, arguing the creator-coin narrative sidelines established projects.
알아야 할 것:
- Base has seen a surge in creator-coin issuance via Zora, with daily token mints surpassing Solana in August, boosting onchain activity and attention.
- Some Base-native projects say marketing and social support has become narrowly focused on Zora-linked initiatives, leaving other established communities without recognition.
- While Base continues to process more than 10 million transactions per day, critics warn that deteriorating builder sentiment could push projects toward rival chains like Solana or Sui.
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