Gm,
With geopolitical tensions increasing in the West, investors face fresh challenges this week in a very unrecognisable macro-environment.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has been wreaking havoc on global markets and there are no signs of it stopping this week. In the short five days of conflict, we have seen an enormous amount of sanctions imposed on Russia that could bring its economy to the brink of collapse. The Russian stock market was closed for the day and the ruble tumbled almost 50%, which is already trading at record lows. In a bid to save the currency, Russian banks have raises key rates to 20% - queue chaos.
Ukraine has raised millions of dollars in crypto aid from a mix of retail and institutional players while the Ukrainian deputy president called on exchanges to blocks Russian and Belarusian users’ funds. More and more each day we are seeing the case for holding assets with store of value appeal like bitcoin as a measure to defer against price increases and fiat currency crashes.
Traditional markets are expected to be extremely volatile on their respective opening times and seeing where BTC will fare amongst this tight opening range will be difficult to predict. $40,000 is the current resistance level to beat. Sunday’s close saw Bitcoin have its first four straight monthly red candles since the 2018 bear market. Added to this, events last week saw Bitcoin struggle to again define its independence from traditional assets.
The landscape of market activity is likely to get even more choppy before it is smooth sailing again.
On a final note, thoughts and prayers go out to all of those affected by the conflict in Russia and Ukraine.
Let’s hope we see the end to it very soon.
Markets
As of 28th Feb 2022
(source: coinmarketcap)
Headline roundup
Longer-term impact of SWIFT ban on Russian banks (LI)
Russian banks raise key rates to 20% in desperate measures to save ruble (CD)
ECB wants quick action on crypto regulation following Russian sanctions (CD)
Japenese stock exchange, JPX invests in Digital Asset Markets (LI)
Coinbase hires Goldman veteran to lead financial operations (CD)
NYSE parent invests in security token firm tZero (LI)
Celsius links up with Maple finance for liquidity play (CD)
Blockchain, BNY Mellon, State Street join blockchain consortium for Alternative Investments (LI)
Bitpanda acquires crypto custodian Trustology (CD)
Japan’s largest bank MUFG provides a blockchain utility token issuance platform (LI)
London Stock Exchange enters digital asset space with TORA acquisition (LI)
Crypto enthusiasts forming DAO to buy Denver Broncos NFL team (CD)
BNY Mellon partners with Chainalysis for crypto compliance (LI)
CBDC
Riksbank CBDC project starts to formulate e-krona requirements (LI)
VC
Toyota part of $7m funding for blockchain carbon removal marketplace Nori (LI)
KuCoin community chain launches $50m accelerator to nurture ecosystem projects (CD)
Web 3 infrastructure startup aligned exists Stealth with $34m funding (CD)
Blockchain infrastructure startup InfStones raises $33m in Series B funding (CD)
Solana wallet Slope finance raises $8m (CD)
Animoca Brands leads $10m funding round for NFT platform Ucollex (CD)
Fast break Labs raises $6m in seed funding round (CD)
Brazilian crypto exchange Foxbi raises $21m in Series A funding (CD)
Meme of the week
About me
My name is Michael Burke, and I started working in the blockchain space 5 years ago, firstly with Deloitte, now with R3, where I help our customers build enterprise solutions utilising the Corda platform. My interest in blockchain and cryptocurrency stems from the sheer potential of the technology to completely transform industries and value chains for the better.