Cryptocurrency prices fell on Monday amid raging war between Russia and Ukraine. World's largest cryptocurrency, in terms of market capitalisation, Bitcoin slipped below $38,000 levels.

At 9:41 am, the cryptocurrency was trading at 37,808, down 2.84 percent, according to CoinDesk data. Bitcoin lost nearly 17 percent in 2022 (year-to-date ) and more than 30 percent from its record high of $69,000 it had hit in November last year.

Cryptocurrency market capitalisation tumbled below $2 trillion mark, as major virtual currencies lost heavily over the past 24 hours.

The second largest crypto Ether also plunged nearly 4 percent to trade at $2,538 at 9:50 am. Meme crypto Dogecoin was trading 3.6 percent lower at $0.12, while Shiba Inu lost 3.41 percent to trade at $0.000023. Solana, which witnessed substantial interest from the crypto traders last year, lost 5.62 percent to trade at $82.39.

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Other cryptocurrencies such as Litcoin, XRP, Chainlink, Cardano, Polygon, Stellar, Internet Computer, and Avalanche were also trading in the negative territory.

Cryptocurrencies plunged on Monday even as news reports suggest that Russians and Ukrainians were rushing to virtual currency assets due to sanctions on financial institutions by Western countries.

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Global equity markets plunged, while safe-haven investment gold touched 19-month high due to the geopolitical tension in Eastern Europe. Oil prices also surged more than 10 percent in the international market and MCX crude March contract hit 6 percent upper circuit on Monday. BofA chief economist Ethan Harris said the loss of Russia's 5 million barrels could see oil prices double to $200 a barrel and lower economic growth globally.

(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)

First Published:Mar 7, 2022 10:16 AM IST