Bitcoin, Ether Mark Lowest Values in Weeks, Tether Manages to Hold Steady as Crypto Market Dips

Bitcoin (BTC) prices continue to dip in what seems to be one of the biggest drops since September when China decided to pull the plug on all crypto trades and mining. Bitcoin is currently trading at $65,885 (roughly Rs. 49 lakh) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber while global exchanges like CoinMarketCap and Binance have it valued at a multi-week low of $59,321 (roughly Rs. 44.2 lakh). Tuesday saw Bitcoin slide by over 5.42 percent, dipping below the $60,000 (roughly Rs. 44.7 lakh) mark for the first time since October end.

Bitcoin isn't alone in what appears to be a remarkable drop for most altcoins too. Ether price dropped by over 6 percent on Tuesday and was priced at $4,617 (roughly Rs. 3.43 lakh), a November low for the altcoin that has seen a lot of positive momentum over the past few weeks. Gadgets 360's cryptocurrency price tracker reveals that the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency is pegged much lower on global exchanges like CoinMarketCap at $4,209 (roughly Rs. 3.1 lakh). This is a marked drop for the second-most popular cryptocurrency that hit a new all-time high just over a week back.

"The past 24 hours remained extremely volatile for the cryptocurrency market with most of the top cryptos remaining under bearish pressure. We saw a massive number of short positions opening up, dragging the market lower. The coming 24 hours would be crucial for the crypto spectrum as $57,000 [roughly Rs. 42.4 lakh] is a crucial support level for BTC. And if BTC tanks, the entire crypto spectrum would likely undergo profit booking," states Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of AI-driven crypto investment platform, Mudrex.

The market tracker appears to be replete with red everywhere, with Cardano, Ripple, and Polkadot marking considerable dips as the global crypto market capitalisation sees a drop of over 2.3 percent.

Tether appears to be the only popular coin holding its own, adding 2.49 percent to its valuation. A few of the other coins that added to their price include IOTA, Augur, and Underdog.

Dogecoin and Shiba Inu both dropped by roughly 7 percent and 9 percent, respectively.

The reason for the slip in Bitcoin's price isn't immediately clear. Market participants have been pointing toward immense profit-taking given the more than 100 percent gain the popular cryptocurrency has made since its slip below $30,000 (roughly Rs. 22.3 lakh) in May this year. A few, meanwhile, blame the crackdown in China on BTC miners although that doesn't appear to be new.

Meanwhile, the boom in crypto-related and metaverse-linked projects appears to be holding as Barbados, the tiny Caribbean island nation has now decided to extend its diplomatic outreach by becoming the first country to establish a digital embassy after an agreement with metaverse platform Decentraland.

Elsewhere, Coinbase co-founder Fred Ehrsam and ex-Sequoia Capital Partner Matt Huang have raised $2.5 billion (roughly Rs. 18,598 crore) for a venture capital fund aimed at the “next generation of crypto companies and protocols” called Paradigm One, making it the biggest crypto venture capital fund to date.