The world’s largest cryptocurrency by market value was trading about $35,360 at time of writing after passing $39,000 on Tuesday.Read MoreFeedzy
The price of bitcoin continued to fall as global markets reacted with alarm to the expanding scale of war in Ukraine, with missiles raining down on the capital city in Kyiv and its airport captured by airborne troops.
BTC was down 9% to $34,555 as of the time of this writing, according to CoinGecko data.
Russian President Russian President Vladimir Putin called on Ukrainian forces to surrender, and warned the U.S. and NATO against getting involved.
“Anyone who tries to interfere with us, or even more so to create threats for our country and our people, must know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never before experienced in your history,” Putin said. “We are ready for any turn of events.”
The U.S. and its allies are expected to hit Russia with a broad sanctions package in the coming hours. These sanctions are expected to target Russian banks, Putin’s cabinet and his circle of business associates but are not expected to cut Russia off from the global financial system.
Russia’s former prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, has previously said that disconnecting Russia from SWIFT would be a declaration of war.
However, presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov has backed down from language calling a potential disconnection a “serious threat” in response to a non-binding resolution passed by the European Parliament in April that called on Russia’s expulsion from SWIFT should an invasion take place.
Russia has pushed ahead with the development of a central bank digital currency as an apparent contingency should it lose access to SWIFT.
Within Asia, market reaction was cautious but major stock indices on the continent are in the red.
Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index is down 2% on the day, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng is down 3.3%. In Taiwan the TAIEX is down 2.5% while Singapore’s Straits Times Index is down 3%.
Dow Jones futures were down 2% in overnight trading, while futures for the S&P 500 were also down 2%.
CNN has reported that Moscow’s stock exchange has suspended trading until further notice.
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