Shortly after Russian President Vladimir Putin began military operations in Ukraine, Bitcoin and Ethereum exchange rates collapsed.
From coinmarketcap, Thursday (24/2/2022) the bitcoin exchange rate at the time of this news has fallen 8.9% in the last 24 hours to USD 34,559 per bitcoin. While Ethereum's decline was even worse, it fell 12.38% in the last 24 hours to USD 2,322 per ETH.
Meanwhile, when compared to the past week, the value of BTC has decreased by 20.75%, and the decline in ETH has reached 24.2%.
In addition to BTC and ETH, there have also been major declines in some coins such as BNB, which fell 11.3% to USD 332 in the last 24 and is down 21.5% in the past week.
As previously reported, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday morning to defend separatists in the east of the country.
"I have decided on military operations," he said in a surprise televised statement shortly before 6 a.m. local time, as reported by the AFP news agency, Thursday (24/2/2022).
Putin claimed in his speech that military operations were carried out to protect civilians. He also said the military operation was a response to threats made by Ukraine and was not aimed at occupying Ukraine.
He also warned other countries against interfering with Russia's actions, as doing so would lead to "consequences they have never seen".
In his speech, the Russian leader accused the United States and its allies of ignoring Russia's requests to prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and offering Moscow security guarantees.
Previously, the Ukrainian government had declared a national emergency on Wednesday (23/2) local time amid the growing threat of a Russian invasion. Ukraine also called on its citizens in Russia to return home immediately.