Bitcoin, Ether Drop in Value as Russian Sanctions Put Crypto Exchanges in the Spotlight

Bitcoin has found it difficult to break higher over the past two days, with bulls hemmed within $42,000 (roughly Rs. 31.5 lakh) and $44,000 (roughly Rs. 33 lakh). The largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, which last week came close to retesting support levels seen in late January, now seems to have lost steam although BTC bulls haven't given up just yet. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency witnessed a 2.7 percent dip in value through Thursday, a dip that has risen through early Friday too, reflecting a 4.76 percent dip in value over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin's value currently stands at $43,678 (roughly Rs. 33 lakh) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber.

Meanwhile, on global exchanges, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency stood at $41,726 (roughly Rs. 31.5 lakh), down by 4.74 percent over the past 24 hours. As per CoinGecko data, Bitcoin is still up by 8.2 percent in value over the past week, as Russia's invasion of Ukraine has highlighted the potential usefulness of cryptocurrencies to investors.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, has also dried up in value over the past couple of days. At the time of publishing, Ether is valued at $2,877 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) on CoinSwitch Kuber while values on global exchanges see the crypto's value hover above the $2,750 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) mark at $2,744 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh), where the coin dropped up by 6.51 percent over the past 24 hours. Compared to the price of Ether a week ago, similar to BTC, CoinGecko data reveals that the cryptocurrency's value is up by more than 5 percent.

Gadgets 360's cryptocurrency price tracker reveals that the crypto euphoria about demand in Russia and Ukraine may be wearing off a little bit. Binance Coin, Terra, and Avalanche which lead the green surge earlier this week have all dipped in value over the past 24 hours, followed by Polygon, Polkadot, Cardano, and Solana. Stablecoins appears to be the only values in the green over the past 24 hours.

Meme coins Shiba Inu and Dogecoin have also dropped in value, much like the rest. Dogecoin is currently valued at $0.14 (roughly Rs. 10.5) after dropping off by 4.88 percent over the last 24 hours, while, Shiba Inu is valued at $0.000026 (roughly Rs. 0.0019), down by 4.47 percent over the past 24 hours.

After an impressive few weeks, the value of cryptocurrencies fell sharply through Thursday and on early Friday. The biggest market news was US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell stating that he expected to support a short-term interest rate increase at March's Fed meeting, which some investors may have thought was currently off the table given the global geopolitical turmoil.

US Senator Elizabeth Warren and three other Democratic lawmakers, meanwhile, urged the Treasury Department to ensure the cryptocurrency industry is complying with sanctions imposed on Russia, expressing concern that digital assets could be used to undermine US foreign policy goals.

The European Commission, on the other hand, is also studying whether crypto-assets are being used to get round financial sanctions imposed on Russian banks following the country's invasion of Ukraine, a senior European Union official said.

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.