Cryptocurrencies lost heavily on Tuesday, as investors treat cautiously due to the deepening crisis in Eastern Europe after Russia ordered troops into breakaway regions of eastern Ukraine.

Bitcoin, which is the world's largest virtual currency by market capitalisation, shed more than 6 percent in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data. The cryptocurrency was trading at $36,906 at 11:18 am.

Bitcoin was down nearly 19 percent in 2022 (year-to-date), whereas the cryptocurrency was trading nearly 46 percent down from its record high of near $69,000 it hit in November 2021.

The second-largest cryptocurrency, Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain, also fell nearly 7 percent to $2,533.46. Meanwhile, Dogecoin price crashed more than 9 percent to $0.13, whereas Shiba Inu lost more than 12 percent to $0.000024. Solana, which witnessed massive investors' interest last year, also plummeted nearly 12 percent.

Other cryptocurrencies such as XRP, Terra, Avalanche, Stellar, Cardano, Polygon, Polkadot also fell in the region of 5-12 percent.

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The overall crypto market was witnessing a negative trend, as most virtual coins were trading in the red. The global cryptocurrency market capitalisation was down more than 3 percent at $1.77 trillion on Tuesday.

The Russian finance ministry said Monday it has introduced a draft legislation to cryptocurrencies, including cap on investments. Cryptocurrencies are witnessing extremely volatile trade since November last year. In 20222, virtual currencies were swing wildly due to the twin factor of impending Fed rate hike and the Ukarine Russia conflict.

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Meanwhile, making a strong case for banning cryptocurrencies, RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar had earlier this month said these currencies were even worse than Ponzi schemes and threaten the financial sovereignty of a country.

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Earlier, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget announced a 30 percent tax on the returns from trading or investing in cryptocurrencies or other digital assets such as NFTs.

International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva also, earlier this month, said unbacked cryptocurrencies will be no match for prudently designed central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)

First Published:Feb 22, 2022 12:09 PM IST