Cryptocurrency Prices Today: Crypto markets bleed as Bitcoin, Ethereum fall on Ukraine woes

Over the last 24 hours, the total volume in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space stood at $12.87 billion, the total volume in stablecoins stood at $72.07 billion. Bitcoin's market dominance fell 0.16 percent to 41.76 percent and the currency was trading at $35,441.27 on the morning of February 24. In rupee terms, Bitcoin fell 7.12 percent to trade at Rs 27,70,309 while Ethereum dipped 8.04 percent to Rs 1,89,999. Read more here.

Bitcoin Price Nosedives After Putin Declares War on Ukraine

The price of Bitcoin fell sharply after Russian President Vladimir Putin went on television to announce a "special military operation" to complete the "demilitarization" of Ukraine. All signs now point to an imminent Russian invasion of Ukraine, and there are media reports of explosions in the capital of Kyiv. Read more here.

European Union To Grant Crypto Oversight to New AML Watchdog: Report

The European Union is reportedly planning to grant a new financial watchdog the responsibility of overseeing the crypto industry’s anti-money laundering and associated risks. Per Bloomberg, the initiative is being led by the European Commission and is expected to begin operating in 2024. Additionally, the Governor of the Bank of Spain Pablo Hernandez de Cos has called for more intense surveillance of the crypto industry. In doing so, the governor laid out a series of risks he perceives to be present in today’s crypto industry. The first—and seemingly biggest—risk is the “limited understanding that exists about [cryptocurrency] characteristics on the part of investors.” Read here.

CryptoPunks Owner Boasts of 'Rugging' Sotheby's, NFT Auction Canceled

A Sotheby's auction of 104 CryptoPunks Ethereum NFTs scheduled for today was canceled after the seller decided to hold on to the digital assets instead. "nvm, decided to hodl," tweeted pseudonymous collector 0x650d on Wednesday evening. The tweet came just over two weeks after the famous auction house announced the sale, which it estimated would bring in $20 million to $30 million. The collector then posted a meme implying that they were "taking punks mainstream by rugging Sothebys." Rugging refers to a rug pull, a scam in which a developer leaves the project with investor's funds. While no funds were lost, the owner did pull the proverbial rug out from under the bidder's feet. Read more here.