Bitcoin plunges below $40,000 in the early hours of the weekend and proceeded to backpedal in the face of escalating tensions on the Ukraine-Russia border, not to mention ongoing inflationary unease. At the time of writing, the world’s most popular cryptocurrency was trading near $38,700, down 3.4% in the previous 24 hours and at its lowest level since February 3. Bitcoin had been holding solidly above $40,000 in recent days, however Friday’s decline was the first time since February 4 that it fell back into the $30,000 region. Ether and nearly all other major cryptocurrencies were down as well. A probable misuse of OpenSea, the leading NFT platform, may have shooed away investors even further away from cryptocurrency. Related Article | Bitcoin Falls As Russia-Ukraine Tensions Escalate Bitcoin Plunges: Lots Of Factors At Play Bitcoin’s price has been slowing in recent weeks following Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell’s announcement that the central bank will begin hiking rates at its March meeting in response to persistent inflationary pressures. More broadly, January’s significant BTC decline occurred following the stock market’s worst month since March 2020 and the issuance of the Fed’s long-awaited research on the possibility of a government-issued digital currency. All of these concerns may have prompted investors to “reduce their exposure to crypto,” accordin...
