Bitcoin, ether extend gains as Russia-Ukraine conflict intensifies

Bitcoin (BTC-USD) and ethereum (ETH-USD) are extending gains to key levels, as tensions between Russia and Ukraine seem to be boosting demand for digital assets. Bitcoin (BTC-USD +12.0%) rose to as high as $45.1K per token in early Tuesday action, recently changing hands at $44.6K. Keep in mind that BTC is still well below its mid-November all-time high of $69.4K. Ethereum (ETH-USD +9.6%) is surging to $3.02K. The global crypto market cap is soaring nearly 13% to $1.95T, with binance coin (BNB-USD +9.5%), ripple (XRP-USD +6.3%), terra (LUNA-USD +16.1%), cardano (ADA-USD +10.0%), solana (SOL-USD +6.6%), avalanche (AVAX-USD +12.7%), dogecoin (DOGE-USD +7.7%), polygon (MATIC-USD +7.9%), wrapped bitcoin (WBTC-USD +11.8%), cosmos (ATOM-USD +12.3%) and uniswap (UNI-USD +6.0%). In light of the crypto rebound amid a geopolitical crisis, bitcoin (BTC-USD) could "de-link from risk" and start trading more like a hedge to geopolitical instability and inflation, Chief Risk Officer for Japan at crypto trading firm B2C2