Bitcoin’s correlation with the U.S. equity market could be one reason for its current decline, but Eastern European money destabilization could push BTC as a “crisis” hedge.
The world woke up to a “sea of red” that was not necessarily limited to the financial markets, as Russia declared war on Ukraine early Thursday.
The traditional financial markets along with the crypto markets have been sliding bearishly for the past week and saw a rapid decline early on Thursday. Apart from crude oil prices, which jumped to an eight-year high above $100, the majority of stocks has lost over 5%.
The Russian invasion on Thursday triggered the bears leading to a $500-billion crypto market sell-off, where the majority of the cryptocurrencies lost critical support to trade at a three-month low. The crypto market capitalization saw a 10% decline during early morning Asian trading hours, falling below the $1.5-trillion mark.
Bitcoin (BTC) is considered an inflation hedge, and many expected its price to show resilience at a time of crisis. However, Sam Bankman-Fried, CEO of global derivative and spot crypto exchange FTX, believes BTC’s decline was no surprise.