Bitcoin and Ethereum have given up the gains made at the end of last week as Russia’s kept up its attack on Ukraine and US President Joe Biden warned China about the drawbacks of joining the former country in war.
Bitcoin eased 2.2% over the past 24 hours to US$40,990, while Ethereum fell 1.9% to US$2,871.
Volumes of Ethereum‘s Ether token held via crypto exchanges has fallen to its lowest levels since September 2018, according to data from Glassnode.
This was, according to specialist media, a signal that are holding in hopes of a price rally in 2022.
Close to 550,000 ether tokens, with a total value of around $1.58bn, have been withdrawn from trading platforms since the start of the year, Glassnode said, cutting the net balance of the number-two digital coin to 21.72mln compared to its all-time high of 31.68mln in the summer of 2020.
Elsewhere, the wider crypto markets were selling off mildly, with Solana, Shiba Inu and Polygon slipping 1.9%, 5.1% and 2.7% respectively.
Further down the pecking order Algorand, Decentraland and Internet Computer also joined the retreat.
Overall, 82 of the leading 100 digital currencies were trading in negative territory during Monday morning’s early changing of hands.
Most notable to buck the trend were Terra, Ethereum Classic and Waves, which advanced 2.7%, 8.6% and 3.3% respectively.
Outside of the top 50 Dash and Bitcoin Gold surged 8.9% and 16.2%.
