The biggest military standoff in Europe in decades has left a huge dent in the markets as the world came tried to come to terms with the new reality in Eastern Europe.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine was being anticipated by Europe and even the rest of the world for a long time. The former had built up huge numbers of troops on its borders and was threatening to do so for a good part of the last 8 years or so. However, there always was the possibility that Vladimir Putin was bluffing and only using the latest military buildup to exact political gains, as he has done usually over the years.
There was also a perception that if Russia moved and attacked, it would be only to completely takeover the small districts of Luhansk and Donetsk, both of which are already controlled in part by Pro Russian militias. So, there was an added miscalculation that Putin would only order limited military action if any.
However, these perceptions proved to be false. Russia has launched a full-time invasion of Ukraine and has opened multiple fronts across the border including one via friendly Belarus which has opened another thorny issue in the continent. This is a reason why the markets reacted the way they did earlier today and there was a lot of panic around the world.
Bitcoin started the day at around $38k but that proved to be a short-term level. Soon after Putin announced the invasion in the middle of the night, Bitcoin and other digital assets began to shed value in a big manner. It revisited levels below $35k at $34.4k before flatlining around there for a while. Eventually, at the end of the day, Bitcoin had jumped back above $38k just before press time. But, this doesn’t take away the fact that the cryptocurrency posted big losses during the day.
Due to the war in Ukraine, the immediate future of the digital currency has a bearish outlook, but the cryptocurrency is expected to appreciate just like Gold and other safe havens soon. This is because Russia is one of the biggest destinations of Bitcoin miners and they have a large stash of digital currency and they are determined to sell it at a reasonable price.
Image Source: pixabay.com
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