Bitcoin, Ether Mark Big Gains as Wider Crypto Market Foots a Comeback After Concerns of an Imminent Crash

The global crypto market faced a tough time over the past 24 hours after the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, as the plunge in value across popular crypto assets saw investors fearing a market crash. Fortunately, the market has managed a recovery. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency witnessed a 7 percent dip in value within hours of the Russian invasion yesterday, but then managed a big swing, rising 10.18 percent in value over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin's value currently stands at $40,709 (roughly Rs. 31 lakh) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber.

Meanwhile, on global exchanges, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency stood at $38,773 (roughly Rs. 29 lakh), up by 11.14 percent over the past 24 hours — a key feat for BTC bulls as analysts are of the opinion that touching the $40,000 (roughly Rs. 30 lakh) mark would be their next target. As per CoinGecko data, Bitcoin has dipped by 4.9 percent in value over the past week.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, also capitulated in the wake of the attack on Ukraine, but managed a heavy comeback over the last 24 hours. At the time of writing, Ether is valued at $2,723 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) on CoinSwitch Kuber while values on global exchanges see the crypto's value hover above the $2,600 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) mark at $2,607 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh), where the coin went up by 9.77 percent over the past 24 hours. Compared to the price of Ether a week ago, CoinGecko data reveals that the cryptocurrency's value is still down by 9.4 percent.

Gadgets 360's cryptocurrency price tracker reveals that all the top digital tokens were in the green as the global crypto market cap jumped about 3 percent in the last 24 hours. As has been a theme over the past week, Avalanche and Terra lead the green surge. Polygon, Polkadot, Cardano, and Solana followed suit.

Meme coins Shiba Inu and Dogecoin — the two most sought after meme coins — both went up in value in the past 24 hours. Dogecoin is currently valued at $0.13 (roughly Rs. 10) after rising by 5.62 percent over the last 24 hours. Shiba Inu is valued at $0.000025 (roughly Rs. 0.002), up by 5.83 percent over the past 24 hours.

There has been a 2 percent increase in oil prices over a single day. The reason behind this rise is the uncertainty that the Russia-Ukraine war has created. As Russia is a leading oil producer, there are chances that sanctions from the West will affect it.

Meanwhile, a total of 13 crypto mining facilities have been busted in Kazakhstan that was consuming huge chunks of electricity to generate Bitcoin, illegally. Crypto mining, the process of generating assets such as Bitcoin, is legally permitted in Kazakhstan, but only via authorised mining facilities.

The Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Kazakhstan conducted raids after having identified illegal crypto mining farms in cities and regions like Karaganda, Turkistan, Pavlodar, Akmola, and Kostanay. Illegal crypto miners are also called grey miners. The development comes under the backdrop of Kazakhstan trying to manage its power supply. Since crypto mining is legal in the country, its grids have been bearing the loads the mining machines require.

Closer home, Reserve Bank of India Deputy Governor Michael Patra has said that the central bank's views about cryptocurrencies might have delayed the government's proposed legislation on crypto assets.

Emphasising that the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) will be introduced in FY23 as announced by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Budget speech, Patra said India will proceed very gradually on the subject as there are concerns on privacy, its impact on monetary policy formulation and energy intensity.

The government had initially planned to introduce a bill on cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin during the Winter Session of Parliament in November-December 2021 but did not introduce it.

Cryptocurrency is an unregulated digital currency, not a legal tender and subject to market risks. The information provided in the article is not intended to be and does not constitute financial advice, trading advice or any other advice or recommendation of any sort offered or endorsed by NDTV. NDTV shall not be responsible for any loss arising from any investment based on any perceived recommendation, forecast or any other information contained in the article.