Bitcoin, Ether Values Show Little Movement as Shiba Inu Continues to Shine in the Meme Coin War

Bitcoin did begin the week with a bit of Monday blues but the slip hasn't turned out to be too bad. The world's most popular cryptocurrency opened Tuesday's trade at Rs. 48.3 lakh (roughly $64,541) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber climbing by 0.94 percent over the past 24 hours. Globally, Bitcoin has been trading at a valuation of above $60,000 (roughly Rs. 44.9 lakh) ever since it reached a new all-time high on 20 October, barring the rare dip early last week.

While Bitcoin struggles to get going, altcoins continue to enjoy a strong start to the week. Gadgets 360's cryptocurrency price tracker show that the second most valuable cryptocurrency in Ether is currently trading at Rs. 3.45 lakh (roughly $4,610), up by 2.23 percent over the past 24 hours. Having recorded a new time high at $4,606 (roughly Rs. 3.4 lakh) last week, Ether has been able to maintain an upward trajectory as analysts predict a strong end to the year for the Ethereum-based crypto-asset.

"The past 24 hours belonged to the altcoins, as the total cryptocurrency market cap went past the $2.63 trillion mark. Bitcoin struggled closer to the $60,200 mark. With BTC dominance decreasing and the market moving higher, altcoins could likely make a large move over the coming days," says Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex, a global algorithm based crypto investment platform.

Shiba Inu (SHIB) continues its record-setting run from last week, ending Monday's trade up by 11.28 percent. Meanwhile, Dogecoin (DOGE) suffered a 3.87 percent dip through the same day as SHIB continues to excite investors in the battle of the dog coins.

Lower down the popularity pecking order, Cardano, Ripple, and Tether all witnessed dips of less than 1 percent.

Meanwhile, Polkadot has broken away from the pack with a strong run in the green, up by 15.8 percent in the past 24 hours. The cryptocurrency is trading at Rs. 3,956 (roughly $52.8) at the time of publishing.

Although it's Bitcoin and Ether charting new all-time highs over the past two weeks, the crypto world has its eyes peeled on the battle of the meme coins. SHIB's strong run so far has garnered a lot of attention from retail investors but whistleblower and former National Security Agency (NSA) consultant Edward Snowden has warned his followers of tossing all their eggs in the same basket.

"The problem is when they get emotionally manipulated into mortgaging the farm based on a meme's worth of understanding. If you want to drop some Happy Meals on lottery tickets, knock yourself out. But not the rent money" he said.

While Shiba Inu fans were quick to fight Snowden's claims, mainstream adoption of the Dogecoin-rival has been increasing in crypto-forward countries.