Trading volumes between the Russian ruble and bitcoin increased to a nine-month high as the country's fiat currency plunged to record lows due to the fallout from the invasion of the Ukraine.
Institutional asset manager State Street has announced plans to launch a custodial service for bitcoin and other digital assets. State Street, the largest asset custodian in the world has over $4.1 trillion in assets.
Digital asset investment products saw inflows totaling $36 million last week despite the ongoing turmoil in Eastern Europe, marking the 6th consecutive week of influxes.
Digital payment platform Wirex announced the integration of Avalanche (AVAX) into its ecosystem on Monday. Wirex enables users to spend 62 fiat and cryptocurrencies at over 61 million locations worldwide.
The crisis in Ukraine has led to further turbulence across global markets to start a new trading week. Major U.S. indexes swung for much of Monday’s session before closing mixed.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq have lost 8.2% and 12%, respectively, over the past two months, each posting their worst such stretch since March 2020.
Russia is the supplier of about 10% of the world’s oil and more than 15% of its gas.
Gas giant Gazprom signed a contract that could lead to its biggest-ever natural gas supply deal with China. The deal aims to construct a new pipeline across Mongolia toward China that would enable 50 billion cubic meters per year of additional gas flows.