Just-In: Crypto Markets Hit 2-Week Lows As Russia Dashes Summit Hopes

Data from coinmarketcap.com showed crypto market capital shed another $30 billion from the start of the day and was at about $1.7 trillion. The day’s losses mark a 41% tumble in market capital from record highs hit last year.

No Plans for U.S.- Russia Summit

A Kremlin spokesman told reporters that there were no concrete plans to organize any summit with Washington, contrasting earlier reports from the French Presidency that both heads of state had agreed to a summit in principle. Concerns over Russia and Ukraine had knocked nearly $200 billion off crypto market capitalization last week.

While crypto markets had recovered slightly in early trade on Monday, news that a summit was unlikely saw a return to losses. Bitcoin was down 2.4% at around $37,700.

Ethereum dropped more than 1% to a three-week low of $2,621.32. Solana, which had raced past its peers earlier in the day, also fell 1.2%. Radix and NEO were among the worst performing tokens in the past 24 hours down around 7% each, while stablecoin Tether saw the highest volumes among its peers at $36 billion- more than twice as that of Bitcoin.

Tether has dominated market volumes in recent weeks, thanks to increased demand for less volatile, safe-haven assets.

Adding to pressure on cryptocurrencies and broader markets, Wall Street bank JPMorgan forecast nine straight rate increases by the Federal Reserve, until March 2023. Interest rate hikes will see a rapid end to the rampant liquidity that had fueled risk-driven assets over the past two years.

A phishing attack that stole “millions” from NFT marketplace OpenSea also appeared to have rattled sentiment towards digital assets.