 Sanctions against Russia may not achieve their aim of forcing Vladimir Putin back to the negotiating table if his forces succeed in achieving their military objective before the country feels the economic pain.  Vladimir Putin, a president whose regime has a long track record of launching cyberattacks, to say the least, has now begun a physical war in Ukraine. Russia is home to some of the world’s most infamous criminal hackers, some of them state-sponsored, so will wider cyberattacks follow the real-world invasion?  The invasion stands to remove a significant share of the world's oil production from the market––the gap between the barrels Russia now sells to Europe and what it can shift to China. It's the prospect of that shock that's sending prices skywards.  Bitcoin enthusiasts have long touted the cryptocurrency’s value as a safe haven to hedge against inflation and other risks in traditional markets. But hours after Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine on Thursday, cryptocurrencies plummeted.
 Not long after Russian bombs rained down on Ukraine, stock markets around the world and U.S. futures plunged.
 The U.S. had already imposed economic sanctions on Russian businesses and leaders to deter Putin from escalating the conflict. But now that Russia has invaded Ukraine, the U.S. could unleash another round of punishment against Russia and Putin by blocking the country from accessing semiconductors made with U.S. technology.
 By 2012, China had become Russia’s largest trading partner with bilateral trade flows growing 11% year on year to reach nearly $50 billion. Yet the key turning point for contemporary Sino-Russian ties came in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea, then a Ukrainian territory with a majority Russian population.
 As news of the invasion rattles financial markets, all commodities—not just energy, but wheat, corn, steel, and iron—are in for price hikes.
 Buterin condemned Putin on Twitter minutes after Russia announced a “special military operation” in Ukraine, effectively declaring war on the Eastern European country. On Wednesday evening, Buterin wrote that he was “very upset by Putin’s decision” to abandon peaceful solutions in Russia’s dispute with Ukraine and to “start a war instead.”
 Crypto prices are plunging as Putin’s war in Ukraine deepens the “crypto winter,” but some crypto traders are moving their money to a spot that’s holding value. Stable coins, which include Tether, USD Coin, and Binance USD, are tied to a fiat currency like the U.S. dollar. Because of this, their prices vary less, and investors are rushing in amid geopolitical turmoil.
 Russia’s entertainment industry is largely state-owned, and while no celebrities have criticized Putin by name, their outcry could lead to bans from any exposure on state media. Some figures in Russia’s cultural scene have gone as far as to preemptively quit their jobs as a sign of protest. But Russian authorities have shown to be willing to clamp down on dissent when necessary.
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