Bitcoin and Ethereum prices surge as Russian-Ukraine relations remain a factor.More altcoins were affected by the avalanche surge this weekend.SEC orders BlockFi to pay $100 million in penalties for its schemes.
Bitcoin and Ethereum prices have surged as the global crypto market hovers on the green side of the chart, with tensions surrounding Ukraine alleviating, prompting renewed interest for digital assets from investors.

For the first time since the end of last week, the largest cryptocurrency by market value, Bitcoin, saw an increase of as much as 5.2%.

The surge also affected other digital tokens, with Ether spiking to 7% to over $3,108.17 and Aave about 7%. At one point, XRP had an increase by 4.58% at $0.8331, while Solana shot up to 8.39% at $102.20.

Polygon’s price went up by 9.63% at $1.79. More altcoins, particularly Dogecoin and Shiba Inu, were up by 2.79% at $0.15 and 2.79% at $0.00003129, respectively.

On Tuesday, Russia announced that some troops are returning to their regular bases after concluding their drills, resulting in US equity round-up and stocks spikes. However, US warnings of a possible Russian attack on Ukraine have been magnified this week.

In other news, cryptocurrency lending platform, BlockFi, will pay $100 million in penalties to settle legal actions against its business scheme, as announced on Monday by US securities regulators.

According to Cornerstone Research, this is the highest penalty since it tracked lawsuits in 2013.

This case came just in time as the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) seeks to initiate a regulatory authority governing digital currency services that would treat them as investments rather than a form of money.

SEC chairman Gary Gensler in a release said:

Today’s agreement makes it clear that cryptocurrency markets must comply with securities laws.

Gensler has been keeping a close eye on the cryptocurrency market since joining the SEC less than a year ago.

For around two years, BlockFi has offered its crypto lending services in exchange for monthly interests, attracting over 600,000 investors, as stated on the SEC order.