XRP, solana, MATIC, AVAX and popular meme token dogecoin DOGE are all down 4%-5% over the past 24 hours

Crypto currency prices declined Monday along with modest drops in global equity markets and increasing oil prices on renewed Middle East turmoil.

Bitcoin declined 1.7% over the past 24 hours to $27,500, surpassing most digital assets as crypto investment services firm Matrixport touted the biggest crypto asset as “better than digital gold.” Bitcoin late Friday and over the weekend appeared primed to challenge a two-month high above $28,400, but was not able to move above $28,200 before sellers finally took over early this morning.

Ether experienced a 2.5% drop as – apart from macro jitters – the Ethereum Foundation sold $2.7 million of tokens on UniSwap. The second biggest crypto currency in terms of market capitalisation extended its decline against BTC, falling to a new 15-month low relative to bitcoin.

Losses were bigger among other altcoins. Ripple Labs-adjacent token (XRP), solana (SOL), Polygon’s native token (MATIC), Avalanche’s (AVAX) and popular meme token dogecoin (DOGE) are all down 4%-5% over the past 24 hours.

The Middle-East conflict extended to its third day on Monday. Fears of the conflict spilling over to neighbouring states appeared to affect oil prices as traders stated it could disrupt supply.

There could be “a pretty dramatic effect on the oil market” should the U.S. enforce sanctions on Iranian exports, Josh Young, CIO of energy investment firm Bison Interests told CNBC. I think it is apt to see oil, let us say, (up) nearly $5 for WTI (West Texas Intermediate).

WTI crude oil increased around 3.5% since Sunday to $86.54 per barrel, according to MarketWatch data, extending three-month gains to 16%.

Equity markets in Asia ended the day in red and while Europe and U.S. stocks are down as well, the losses are rather modest with the Stoxx 600 just 0.25% down and the S&P 500 lower 0.6%.