Bitcoin's push past $40,000 with a 15% daily gain, a new record for the world's largest digital asset by market cap, has been felt in ether and other layer 1 protocol tokens as the total crypto market cap inches back toward the $2 trillion mark.
- Fighting continued after peace talks between Russia and Ukraine ended with no resolution other than to meet again, the New York Times reported on Tuesday.
- By late morning Asia time, bitcoin (BTC) was trading at around $43,000, according to CoinGecko.
- Macroeconomic strategist Lynn Alden noted on Twitter that "a week into a significant geopolitical/military event, bitcoin is outperforming gold," pointing to Ukraine and Russia's comparatively high crypto adoption. Ukraine is fourth on Chainalysis' crypto adoption index, while Russia is 18th.
- Solana (SOL) was up 11.4% to $97 at time of writing, per CoinGecko, while ether (ETH) was up to $2,900, or 11% on-day.
- According to open interest data curated by CoinAlyze, open interest on solana is up 14% to $726 million.
- Open interest on ether is up 11%.
- Other tokens also saw double-digit gains. avalanche (AVAX) was up 17% to $86.70 at time of writing, while Cardano's ADA token was up 9.7% to 96 cents. Cosmos' ATOM token posted gains of 16%, bringing its price to $31.75.
- Glassnode data shows the number of unique tether (USDT) stablecoin transfers hit a monthly high, inferring that traders who had cashed out during the initial uncertainty of the war in Ukraine are moving assets around to prepare for a re-entry into the market.
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