DUBAI: Bitcoin, the leading cryptocurrency internationally, traded lower on Monday, dropping 2.39 percent to $40,887.62 as of 8:00 a.m. Riyadh time.
Ether, the second most traded cryptocurrency, was priced at $2,847.05, down 2.55 percent, according to data from Coindesk.
The Ukraine war influence
Cryptocurrencies have played a crucial role in the war in Ukraine, helping the government raise millions of dollars to fight against Russian aggression.
Ukrainian officials began posting addresses for two crypto wallets on their Twitter accounts at the beginning of the conflict, giving donors a clear and direct address to which to send contributions.
Four days into the invasion, the wallets attracted more than $10.2 million.
Over $100 million worth of crypto has been raised since then, with 60 percent of donations going to the “Crypto Fund for Ukraine” run by Michael Chobanian, founder of the Ukrainian crypto exchange Kuna.
Euroclear embraces tokenized payment system
Belgium-based securities settlement house Euroclear has bought a small stake in a three-year-old bank consortium Fnality that is building a payment system for tokenized assets.
The objective was to settle tokenized assets, or digital securities, against digital cash on distributed ledger technology, or DLT, in a faster and more efficient way, the company said.
(With inputs from Reuters)