@$38899: Weekend Recovery: Bitcoin Touched $40K, ETH Spikes 6% (Market Watch)

The cryptocurrency and financial markets took a severe hit shortly after Putin ordered a “special military operation” on the territory of Ukraine.

However, the markets are pricing the future, and following Biden’s speech that confirmed the US would not apply any severe sanctions – global markets and crypto quickly recovered. Thursday saw a 7% intra-day gain in wall street, and Friday also saw a green spike on Wall Street’s screens.

The primary digital asset currently hovers around $39,000 after reaching above $40K (on Bitstamp), which is even higher than the days before the conflict. Most alternative coins are also in green, while the crypto market cap reached $1.77 trillion (a 3.3% increase over the last day).

BTC Touched $40K

Bitcoin, similar to other financial assets, lost a significant chunk of its valuation after Russia launched its military operation in Ukraine. Specifically, the coin plummeted to nearly $34,000 (its lowest price in the last 30 days). The following uncertainty whether the NATO members would send troops to Eastern Europe was not a bullish factor for bitcoin, spreading much of uncertainty.

However, the primary cryptocurrency started its rally in the early hours of Thursday when USA’s President – Joe Biden – asserted that American forces will not be sent to Ukraine to participate in a direct military conflict. Instead, the politician vowed to impose severe financial sanctions on Russia and limit the nation’s ability to “do business in dollars, euros, pounds, and yen to be part of the global economy.” Shortly after his announcement, bitcoin’s price soared significantly.

Over the following 36 hours, the asset’s USD value climbed even higher, topping the $40K price level earlier today. Currently, it trades around $39K, while its market capitalization sits at $743 billion.

It is safe to say that its price increase also resulted from the other nations’ approach to the conflict. The EU, Japan, and Australia disclosed that they will not send their armies to Ukraine as of the moment. Like the USA, those countries vowed to impose monetary sanctions and fresh embargoes on Russia.

Altcoins Also on The Green

As it typically happens, in line with Bitcoin’s gains, most alternative coins headed north, too. While the primary cryptocurrency is only 1% up compared to the day before, Ethereum’s USD value increased by more than 6% and is currently trading at $2,750.

Terra (LUNA), Polkadot (DOT), and Ripple (XRP) are among the best-performing assets, as all of them climbed by over 10%.

Some of the leading tokens by market capitalization, including Binance Coin (3%), Solana (3%), Dogecoin (4%), and Cardano (5%), have also overcome their post-war drops.

The total cryptocurrency market capitalization reached $1.77 trillion (3.3% more than the previous day), meaning it has regained approximately 700 million.