Crypto On Feb 23: Market Back In Green; Solana, Terra LUNA Zoom

The cryptocurrency market bounced back Wednesday, with top coins, including Bitcoin and Ethereum gaining momentum after coming off a bearish trend the previous day. The global crypto market cap was up 4.75% at $1.73 trillion as of 2.53 a.m. ET.

The market turned bullish despite the rise in Russia-Ukraine tensions following President Vladimir Putin's decision to send his troops to breakaway areas in eastern Ukraine his government recognized as independent entities. Experts say that this is because of an increase in institutional investments in the community.

Bitcoin rose 3.55% to $38,151. Ethereum, too, gained 6.21% to $2,681, CoinMarketCap data showed. All top coins traded in the green, including meme cryptos Dogecoin and Shiba Inu.

Top gainers included Solana, which zoomed 8.42%, and Terra LUNA, which surged 15%. Avalanche and Cardano also rose.

Jay Hao, CEO of OKX.com, a global crypto exchange, said, "As the crypto community continues to gauge the impact of Russia-Ukraine tensions, we think retail and institutional investors are increasing their crypto holdings by buying the dip."

"This is the first time in history when in times of inter-nation tension, investors are moving toward digital assets which are at par with traditional assets/commodities like gold and crude oil. We see the gold prices surging as well as the crypto market recovering at this time," Hao told International Business Times.

He noted that investors are starting to look at crypto to hedge against inflation in turbulent times.

In other news, India's advertising watchdog released guidelines for crypto- or virtual digital asset-related advertisements, applicable on or after April 1. The guidelines noted that earlier advertisements must not appear in the public domain unless they comply with the new guidelines after April 15.

The crypto market is highly volatile, and experts recommend that investors not make decisions based on the sudden price shift.