The global cryptocurrency market remained under pressure as investors watched the growing tension between Russia and Ukraine.
Bitcoin, the world’s favourite cryptocurrency, was down 1.58 percent and the currency was trading at $38,530. In rupee terms, Bitcoin fell 1.64 percent to trade at ₹2,947,634 at 10:35 am (IST), according to CoinDesk data. It is about 30 percent far away from its record high of near $69,000 it had hit in November last year.
During the past two months, as global asset markets were whipsawed by an increasingly hawkish Federal Reserve and then Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Bitcoin remained stubbornly in a range.
On the other hand, Ether, the world’s second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalization, which is linked to the Ethereum blockchain, also plunged 0.57 percent to $2,571. In rupee terms, Ethereum declined 0.60 percent to trade at ₹196,758 in the last 24 hours.
The performance of other digital tokens were also mixed as Avalanche, Polygon, Litecoin, Stellar, XRP, Uniswap, Solana, Polygon, Polkadot were trading with cuts, however, Terra, Cardano surged over the last 24 hours.
Meanwhile, the global cryptocurrency market capitalisation remained below the $2 trillion mark at $1.8 trillion, more than 1.5 percent change in the last 24 hours. The total crypto market trading volume on the last day is at $66.5 Billion, as per CoinGecko.
The Union finance ministry is currently working on a consultation paper to devise a domestic regulatory framework on how to deal with crypto assets and will invite comments from the public on the same after nearly six months, reported Business Standard.
“At present, we are engaged in consultation with institutions like the International Monetary Fund (IMF), World Bank, and the Financial Stability Board (FSB). While a global consensus on the issue may take time, we are working on a consultation paper on crypto assets to formulate our own views on the matter. We will release it for public consultation in about six months’ time,” said a finance ministry official.
In global news, Crypto firms in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) are being deluged with requests to liquidate billions of dollars of virtual currency as Russians seek a safe haven for their fortunes, company executives and financial sources said.
A proposed rule that could effectively amount to a ban on the leading cryptocurrency bitcoin will be voted on by European Union (EU) parliamentarians Monday with the outcome very much undecided.
Appealing directly to both stablecoin issuert Tether and Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino via Twitter, Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov urged the company on Friday to stop all dealings with Russians.