Bitcoin, ether and most other cryptocurrencies spent much of Monday in the red as more bad news flowed from Ukraine.

At one point bitcoin was trading at about $39,00, slightly up over the previous 24 hours. Ether was selling at just over $2,550, off slightly over the same period. Other major cryptos in the CoinDesk top 20 by market capitalization also fell, although Terra’s luna and and Axie Infinity (AXS) were among the exceptions. Trading was light as investors seemed inclined to wait out events later in the week, including a decision by the U.S. central bank’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) on the first of what many observers believe will be several interest rate hikes this year to quash raging inflation.

“Cryptos across the board are in for a choppy period as investors await developments with Russia-Ukraine talks and if the Fed gives a clear path for interest rates that could possibly lead to a deeper bond market selloff,” OANDA Americas Senior Market Analyst Edward Moya wrote in an email.

Analysts remain divided about whether crypto and equity markets are correlated assets, but the two have seemed to operate along similar wavelengths in recent weeks. The tech-heavy Nasdaq fell about 2% on Monday and the S&P 500 was off slightly.

Meanwhile, the Economic and Monetary Affairs committee of the European Parliament decided to exclude a proposed rule that could have banned proof-of-work systems such as bitcoin throughout the European Union, but the vote seemed to have little impact on crypto prices.

In Ukraine, Russia escalated its bombardment of the capital Kyiv as the Kremlin remained unmoved by calls from most of the international community to halt its unprovoked attack. Russian forces stopped a convoy of supplies for the besieged Black Sea port of Mariupol, which is facing food and other shortages. Ukrainian and Russian representatives are scheduled to meet again on Tuesday to discuss a ceasefire. Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the U.S. Congress remotely in an effort to convince lawmakers to provide more military support.

Moya noted optimistically that cryptos had gotten a boost from Tesla CEO and crypto influencer Elon Musk, who tweeted that although owning quality stocks or a home was good during high inflationary times, he would not be selling bitcoin, ether or doge.

“Musk’s tweet is a reminder that a lot of long-term hodlers are out there and that bitcoin will likely see strong support ahead of the bumpy path that lies ahead as the U.S. Federal Reserve starts raising interest rates,” Moya wrote.

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Play-to-earn games in Asia continue to attract considerable interest from investors.

Summoners Arena, a GameFi role-playing game (RPG) developed in Vietnam, closed a $3 million funding round led by Pantera Capital and counted Coinbase Ventures and Impossible Ventures as participants.

In an interview, Zoe Hoang, Summoners Arena chief marketing officer, said that the team is hoping to differentiate Summoners Arena from other entries in the genre by making it a game that people actually want to play, not just play-to-earn, she said, calling their model Play-Own-Earn.

The team plans to use proceeds of the raise to expand their headcount, and further develop the game by enhancing the graphics and adding support for VR. They also plan to create a universe of other games with the same characters.

Hoang said that gaming is the “perfect use case” for NFTs because it can create a sense of ownership for gamers. When playing a game, gamers might ‘invest’ dozens of hours of time but before GameFi there’s no way to claim ownership over this achievement.

Interest in gaming in Vietnam has accelerated during the coronavirus pandemic, with gamers primarily using their mobiles or PCs. Consoles are pretty much non-existent in the market because of their high cost and limited utility compared to a phone or computer.

Using NFTs to represent ownership of this achievement — and not just speculation — is what caught the attention of Pantera Capital, said Hoang.

“By prioritizing building an amazing game first and layering in crypto-economics second, their play-own-earn model is setting a strong example for other projects in the space, learning lessons from early attempts at the play-to-earn model,” said Paul Veradittakit, Partner at Pantera Capital, in a press release.

Although play-to-earn games are on shaky regulatory grounds in parts of Asia, Hoang said that the Vietnamese government hasn’t taken a position on crypto and existing laws have’t caught up with the technology. That being said, the government is meeting with stakeholders and has an open ear to their feedback on developing new laws.

GameFi tokens currently have a $23 billion market cap, according to CoinGecko.

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