Bitcoin, the largest cryptocurrency by market value strengthened as much as 5.2% to $44,449, for the first time since the end of last week. 

Other digital tokens also increased, with Ether jumping almost 7% to over $3,108.17, and DeFi favorite Aave up around 7%. 

XRP was up by 4.58% at $0.8331, Solana was up by 8.39% at $102.20.  

Polygon’s price surged by 9.63% at $1.79. Other alt coins, Dodgecoin was up by 2.79% at $0.15 and Shiba Inu increased by 2.79% at $0.00003129.

US equity futures rallied and stocks climbed in Europe as Russia said Tuesday that some troops are starting to return to their regular bases after completing drills. 

US warnings of a possible Russian attack on Ukraine had reached their most urgent level yet this week.

Meanwhile, US securities regulators on Monday announced that cryptocurrency lending platform BlockFi will pay $100 million in penalties to settle lawsuits about its business scheme.

The first-ever such case came as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) looks to establish regulatory authority over digital currency services, treating them more like investment operations than a form of money.

“This is the first such case involving crypto lending platforms,” SEC chair Gary Gensler said in a release.

“Today’s agreement makes it clear that cryptocurrency markets must comply with securities laws.”

Gensler has stepped up scrutiny of the cryptocurrency market since joining the SEC less than a year ago.

According to a study by Cornerstone Research, the penalty is the highest since it began tracking lawsuits in the sector in 2013.

For about two years, BlockFi has provided a service in which people lend it crypto assets in exchange for monthly interest payments, according to the SEC order.

The crypto-lending scheme attracted some 600,000 investors, according to the order.