Russia-Ukraine war: Are cryptocurrencies a safe haven?

livemint.com:

Russia-Ukraine war: Cryptocurrencies have been close to the headlines since Russia invaded Ukraine, with the ever-volatile bitcoin in demand in Russia and beyond.

Here are some facts that look at how cryptocurrencies have fared during the largest attack on a European country since World War Two.

CORRELATION CONUNDRUM

Correlated or not? That's long been the question for bitcoin, with the original cryptocurrency at times marching to the equity beat -- and at other times not.

Bitcoin initially slumped after Russia launched its assault on Ukraine as investors dumped riskier assets, falling as much as 8% on Thursday before clawing back losses on the day. European stocks fell 3.3% while the S&P 500 added 1.5%.

The paths of bitcoin and stocks have since entwined again, albeit to differing degrees.

Bitcoin jumped 14.5% on Monday in its best day in a year, and now stands up 12% since the day before the invasion began on Feb. 24. U.S. stocks have made smaller gains, with the S&P 500 edging up 3.3%. MSCI's world index is down slightly.

"It's still largely been correlated with U.S. equities throughout this crisis," Joseph Edwards, head of financial strategy at crypto firm Solrise Group, said of bitcoin.

A SAFE HAVEN?

Crypto aficionados see bitcoin as "digital gold," a handy place to store cash during war or disaster. Bitcoin, the argument goes, has a limited supply and runs on a global computer network beyond the reach of governments and is therefore safer than traditional currencies.

Things are never that simple. Bitcoin's safe-haven chops are unclear: It often behaves more like risk-on assets such as stocks.

Investors say that during the war bitcoin's characteristics have stoked demand and helped it outperform other traditional