As Russia attacks Ukraine, Bitcoin falls 5%+, slightly above a one-month low, Ether drops 8%+, and others crash, wiping $150B+ off the crypto market in 24 hours
- Bitcoin fell to a one-month low on Thursday with other cryptocurrencies including ether plunged.
CNBCArjun Kharpal
Context & Ripple Effects
The selloff follows January’s $130 billion one-day crypto-market loss, when Bitcoin and Ether had already reached their lowest levels since July. Russia’s attack adds a geopolitical shock to an asset market that had entered the episode under sustained pressure.
Later coverage records similar joint Bitcoin-and-Ether declines during a US stock selloff and SVB turmoil, reinforcing that the pair were being repriced together rather than on crypto-specific news alone.
First-order effects
Bitcoin’s more than 5% decline and Ether’s more than 8% decline erase over $150 billion from the crypto market in 24 hours, immediately reducing the value of holders’ positions.
Ether falls more sharply than Bitcoin, extending the uneven losses between the two largest cryptocurrencies during the geopolitical shock.
Crypto-market pricing becomes more sensitive to shocks outside the sector, reducing the distinction between Bitcoin, Ether, and other risk assets during abrupt market moves.
Third-order effects
Repeated episodes of joint crypto selloffs point to a market structure in which macroeconomic and geopolitical conditions can dominate asset-specific narratives.
If that pattern persists, the crypto sector’s legitimacy debate will increasingly turn on whether its largest assets behave as diversifiers or as high-volatility risk exposures.
The trend: Crypto’s largest assets are increasingly being priced as part of broader risk-off market moves, with external shocks driving synchronized declines.
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