Bitcoin Stabilizes After Dipping to 2-Week Low of $37K

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization, dipped to a two-week low of $37,300 early Monday amid rising tensions in eastern Europe, before stabilizing around $39,000.

Analysts aren’t convinced the rebound will last. The Kremlin has ruled out the prospect of a dialogue soon between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart, President Joe Biden, an idea proposed by French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday. Ukraine, meantime, has reported shelling from Russia-backed separatists.

“It seems like a full ‘de-risk’ across the board, presumably a flight to cash as it's hard to find an asset that is actually performing against the current uncertainty,” said Jason Deane, an analyst at Quantum Economics. “Markets could be very messy if military action actually does transpire.”

Ethereum, the second-largest cryptocurrency, has lost 6.8% over the last seven days, struggling to stay above $2,700.

In contrast, metaverse and gaming-related tokens are mostly higher on the day. Axie infinity (AXS), the leader in crypto’s still-nascent “play-to-earn” sector, is trading up 5% in the last 24 hours.

The advance comes as the game surpassed $4 billion in lifetime sales of non-fungible tokens (NFT), according to data from DappRadar. The game was launched in 2018 and now has a market capitalization of $3.2 billion.

Decentraland games (MANA) is also positive, with a 3% increase. Yield guild games (YGG) has added 2.5%.