It was a red week in markets as the political tension in Europe created volatility (yep, again) and investor uncertainty (also again). Crypto bulls took advantage of a late dip which propelled Bitcoin and Ethereum, but prolonged tension could see further declines across all coins.

The Usual Suspects: Late Recovery Eases Dip

Bitcoin and Ethereum had major dips this week after spats in Ukraine and Russia, with a steep decline on Thursday following Putin announcement and news of Russia invasion. This dip led to high trading volumes later in the week as investors piled in and led to a minor recovery. Global markets prefer stability and predictability on a macro scale and cryptocurrency is no different; the political tension could lead to greater volatility, particularly if the situation in Europe worsens.

Bitcoin started the week at $53,400 and has held steady for the week at $53,700 with a low of $48,000. Following the news of Russia invasion into Ukraine, Bitcoin dropped by close to 10% in one day, making it one of the biggest 24 hour drops in Bitcoin history. Although this quick dip was quickly recovered through increased trading volumes, expect to see a further decline as the situation in Europe unfolds.

Ethereum declined slightly this week with a 1% loss. Ethereum started the week at $3,700 and declined to $3,660 with a low of $3,260. Russian creator of Ethereum, Vitalik Buterin took to the stage this week and condemned Putin actions but this had limited impact on the recovery of Ethereum following Thursday dip.

Increased political tensions have impacted Bitcoin and Ethereum and the political environment in Europe are unlikely to ease, meaning that further declines are to be expected in the coming weeks.

The Best of the Rest: No Coin Immune to Geopolitics

It was a dark week for our next tier of popular coins. Cardano, Ripple, Solana, Avalanche and Polygon had significant drops as a result of the geopolitical tension in Ukraine.

Cardano finished the week 9% down with a 24-day drop of over 30%. Ripple dropped by 11%, and by 24% in one day, and has continued to slide all year. Solana experienced a similar drop this week of 2%, with a drop of 20% on Thursday due to the Russian invasion and Avalanche and Polygon both had 30% drops on Thursday and finished the week down 4% and 8% respectively.

Similar to Bitcoin and Ethereum, it unlikely that a recovery will be imminent for our second tier set of coins, but given the magnitude of this loss this week, there might be an opportunity for a quick gain.

The Weekly Loser: No Glimmer of Hope

Almost all coins were losers this week but one coin dropped significantly more than the rest: Glimmer (GLMR). Glimmer dropped by over 25% this week and has been down 50% since Friday, propelled by the macro environment and its delayed launch.

Glimmer is an Ethereum-compatible blockchain that supports smart contracts. It has been developed to be multi-chain' meaning that existing Smart Contracts can be supported by Glimmer. The benefit of Glimmer over Ethereum is that it could have lower gas fees, which would unlock greater usage than traditional blockchains which have had growing gas fees in recent months.

This space is incredibly crowded and becoming more competitive with many alternatives to Ethereum such as Solana, Polygon and Avalanche. Although Glimmer has some benefit due to its multi-chain functionality, it unlikely it could win out against the other tokens and may continue to see a decline and has limited future upside.

The Weekly Winner: Lending Protocol Delivers Returns

Anchor Protocol (ANC) was one of the only winners this week and was a rare sight of green amongst the red that littered markets. Anchor gained 53% this week to $4.68 after starting the week at $3.05.

Anchor is a decentralised finance (DeFi) protocol that enables lending and borrowing on a Terra blockchain. Anchor allows users to lend, borrow and earn interest on their token and offers a stable, low-volatility interest rate to users.

The blockchain as a pool of Terra tokens which generates interest through staking', and forms the foundation of a borrowing pool. Users can then borrow from this pool or contribute their own tokens as a loan in order to grow the pool. As an incentive, they are then rewarded with tokens which they can then sell or continue staking.

DeFi is a recent and growing movement in the cryptocurrency space and could continue to grow as use cases, crypto wallets and staking becomes easier and normalised across investors and the general public. Anchor could be one to watch in this space!

Sources: BTC Markets, CoinMarketCapThis post was written by Fresh Capital Media.