On Monday, Bitcoin (BTC) and several other major crypto assets initially declined, but later in the trading day, buyers arrived to provide relief. At the same time, as a ban on Russian oil imports seemed to be on the table, the US dollar, gold, and a wide range of other commodities continued to rise.
BTC is currently trading at USD 38,950, stable in the last 24 hours and up 3.2 percent this week. Ethereum (ETH) is currently trading at USD 2,615, down 1% on the day and 0.5 percent on the week.
Gold and Other Commodities
Gold soared beyond the critical USD 2,000 milestone in early trade in Europe, reaching its highest level since August 2020, causing the crypto market to react. Gold, on the other hand, has retraced significantly from its high, trading at USD 1,969 as of press time.
Other commodities, particularly oil and natural gas, climbed as well, with European Brent crude oil reaching highs of over USD 130 in early trading, the most since June 2008. Oil, like gold, has retraced from its peak and is currently trading at around USD 124 as of press time.
Meanwhile, European stock markets rebounded from severe losses earlier in the day, with the STOXX Europe 600 index down 0.3 percent for the day after falling as high as 3.8 percent earlier. In the United States, S&P 500 futures pointed to a 0.36 percent lower start on Wall Street.
The market’s movements were triggered by news that Russia and Ukraine will meet for cease-fire talks in Belarus later. In addition, rumors surfaced on Monday that Ukraine’s and Russia’s foreign ministers will meet for talks in Turkey on Thursday.
Despite current pricing indicating a higher hunger for traditional safe havens than for crypto, data from crypto research and investing firm CoinShares revealed that digital asset investment products witnessed inflows of USD 127 million last week, up from USD 36 million the week before.
According to CoinShares’ data, out of the USD 127 million witnessed flowing into all crypto goods, USD 94.8 million went into bitcoin-backed investment products.
With capital returning to more traditional safe-havens, bitcoin’s reputation as digital gold and a new safe haven has once again been questioned.
Former Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein was one of those who questioned the crypto market’s capacity to serve as a beneficial safe haven from the current upheaval in the fiat world. Last night, Blankfein wrote on Twitter that he’s “not seeing” crypto prices reflect any of their safe haven features right now.
