Crypto Index Tracker: Russia-Ukraine Tensions Weigh on Crypto Markets
- By Bilal Hafeez and Dalvir Mandara
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- 3 min read
Crypto markets have been hit hard as tensions between Russia and Ukraine intensifies. Bitcoin and our Smart Contract Index are down around 13-14%. This brings bitcoin’s cumulative drawdown from its November 2021 highs to 46%. Elsewhere, our Metaverse Index is down the most at 17%, followed by our DeFi Index which is down 16% (Charts 1 and 2):
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Crypto markets have been hit hard as tensions between Russia and Ukraine intensifies. Bitcoin and our Smart Contract Index are down around 13-14%. This brings bitcoin’s cumulative drawdown from its November 2021 highs to 46%. Elsewhere, our Metaverse Index is down the most at 17%, followed by our DeFi Index which is down 16% (Charts 1 and 2):
- Smart Contract Platform Index. Fantom (FTM) and VeChain (VET) are down the most at 20% WoW each. Terra (LUNA) is down the least at 7%. Ethereum is down 12%.
- DeFi Index. Aave (AAVE) and 1inch (1INCH) are down the most at 20% each WoW. Terra (LUNA) is down the least at 7%.
- Metaverse Index. The Sandbox (SAND) is down the most at 28% WoW. Ultra (UOS) is the only coin that has made gains across all coins from each index – it is up 9% WoW.
- Bitcoin. This is down 13%.
What Are In The Four Indices?
Here are the indices in more detail:
- Bitcoin: the OG of crypto markets deserves its own category and is in many ways the true benchmark for any other crypto market.
- Smart contract platforms: after bitcoin, the big innovation was to have blockchains that were more programmable. These could host smart contracts or decentralised applications and have allowed the emergence of the metaverse and defi. Ethereum (ETH) is the most popular version of a smart contract platform. As well as ethereum, we also include some key competitors. The constituents of this index are: Ethereum (ETH), Cardano (ADA), Avalanche (AVAX), Solana (SOL), Fantom (FTM), VeChain (VET), Terra (LUNA), EOS (EOS), and Chainlink (LINK). We also include Polkadot (DOT) which allows interoperability between blockchains and the use of smart contracts via parachains.
- Metaverse: coins associated with the creation of a virtual space/digital world on the internet using a combination of augmented reality, virtual reality, and social networks. The constituents of this index are: Axie Infinity (AXS), The Sandbox (SAND), Decentraland (MANA), Enjin Coin (ENJ), Aavegotchi (GHST), Terra Virtua Kolect (TVK), Ultra (UOS), Phantasma (SOUL), RedFOX Labs (RFOX), and Gala (GALA).
- Decentralised Finance (DeFi): financial services built on top of blockchain networks with no central intermediaries. This can be a very broad category, so we narrow this down to platforms that focus on lending/borrowing, yield farming, automated market making and decentralised exchange tokens. The constituents of this index are: Aave (AAVE), Compound (COMP), Uniswap (UNI), Yearn.finance (YFI), Loopring (LRC), PancakeSwap (CAKE), Maker (MKR), 1inch (1INCH), Thorchain (RUNE), and Terra (LUNA).
Dalvir Mandara is a Quantitative Researcher at Macro Hive. Dalvir has a BSc Mathematics and Computer Science and an MSc Mathematical Finance both from the University of Birmingham. His areas of interest are in the applications of machine learning, deep learning and alternative data for predictive modelling of financial markets.
Bilal Hafeez is the CEO and Editor of Macro Hive. He spent over twenty years doing research at big banks – JPMorgan, Deutsche Bank, and Nomura, where he had various “Global Head” roles and did FX, rates and cross-markets research.