Cryptos Retain Gains as Ukraine Security Crisis Continues to Deteriorate

Major cryptos retained their Monday gains while the security crisis in Ukraine resulting from Russia's invasion continues to deteriorate.

• BTC$102,731.45 was hovering over $43,000 early on Tuesday, compared to $38,000 24 hours earlier. Ether ETH$3,511.54 was selling over the $2,900 mark, compared with $2,600 Monday. Bitcoin has been outperforming gold in this crisis.
• Peace talks between Russia and Ukraine held in Minsk last night haven't led to any publicly known conclusions, other than to meet again. The U.S. closed down its embassy in Minsk yesterday and green-lighted the partial evacuation of staff from its Moscow mission. Earlier, Belarussian politicians voted to end the country's non-nuclear status, likely to allow Russia to place nuclear weapons on its soil.
• Intense fighting continued overnight in Ukrainian cities, including the capital of Kyiv. A Russian military convoy 65 kilometers in length was seen driving toward the capital early on Tuesday.
• The Indian embassy in Kyiv advised all Indian nationals to leave the city "urgently today." Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will ask the Air Force to support the evacuation, NDTV reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.
• Western countries have stepped up their support of Ukraine's defense; the U.S. allocated $350 million for Ukraine's defense spending, while the U.K., France, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, Greece, the Czech Republic, Romania and Spain have agreed to send ammunitions or defensive equipment.
• Mastercard has blocked "multiple" financial institutions from its payments network due to sanctions orders, the company said in a Tuesday statement posted on its site.
• Sanctions levied on Russian entities in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine include President Vladimir Putin, the central bank's international reserves and a swath of banks, energy exporters and airlines.
• Russia calls the invasion a "special military operation" and claims to be "denazifying" Ukraine.
• The European Union, U.S., U.K. and Canada have announced they will cut some Russian banks out of the SWIFT payments network.
• Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Ministry of Finance is selling war bonds to fund the military effort. Authorities have also called on the world to donate in bitcoin, ether, U.S. stablecoin tether and polkadot.
• Binance founder and CEO Changpeng "CZ" Zhao tweeted that "it often takes a week for 'the market' to understand," likely implying the market rally could be reversed.

Read more: Ukraine Asks Binance, Coinbase, 6 Other Crypto Exchanges to Block Russian Users