Bitcoin Holds Up Well to Hover Around $37,000 as Ether, Metaverse Tokens See Uptick in Value

Bitcoin's price collapse last weekend reverberated throughout the crypto market, with leading cryptocurrencies continuing to suffer heavy losses through the week. The world's most valuable cryptocurrency has since staged a steady recovery, reaching above $38,000 (roughly Rs. 30 lakh) on Wednesday, January 26, but BTC failed to hold on to the upward momentum through Thursday, dropping more than 4 percent. Friday, however, has begun on a more positive note. Bitcoin's value is currently at $40,451 (roughly Rs. 30 lakh), up by 3.81 percent over the past 24 hours on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber.

Meanwhile, on global exchanges, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency climbed above $37,000 (roughly Rs. 30 lakh), marking a slight revival over the past couple of days. As per CoinMarketCap, BTC is valued at $37,266 (roughly Rs. 30 lakh) up by 3.71 percent over the past 24 hours.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, had a poor showing through Thursday as well, shedding over 5 percent in value, undoing some positive momentum gathered through Tuesday and Wednesday. But similar to Bitcoin, Friday's trade has begun on the up for the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency. At the time of publishing, Ether is valued at $2,648 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) on CoinSwitch Kuber while values on global exchanges see the crypto's value hover around the $2,400 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) mark at $2,435 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh), where the coin rose by 1.40 percent over the past 24 hours. According to CoinGecko, Ether's value has dipped by more than 19 percent since last weekend's crash.

Gadgets 360's cryptocurrency price tracker shows that most popular altcoins witnessed a positive start to Friday as well. Polygon,Binance Coin, Solana, Avalanche, and Elrond were among the biggest gainers, alongside metaverse tokens Decentraland (MANA), The Sandbox (SAND), and Enjin Coin (ENJ). Among popular altcoins, Terra was among the only crypto asset to have dropped off in value, losing over 6 percent.

Meme coins haven't had a very good week since the crash, particularly Shiba Inu, but the past 24 hours have been better for both SHIB and DOGE. Dogecoin is currently valued at $0.15 (roughly Rs. 11.5) after rising by 0.23 percent over the last 24 hours, while, Shiba Inu is valued at $0.000023 (roughly Rs. 0.002), up 2.58 percent over the past 24 hours.

"Bitcoin gained slightly, trading at $37,000 (roughly Rs. 27 lakh) in the past 24 hours after witnessing a drop for two consecutive days. According to the market cap, Ether and other top altcoins have also gained more than the previous day. The upside trend of BTC remained limited given the intermediate-term downtrend. BTC struck below $40,000 (roughly Rs. 30 lakh) resistance, and the support levels remained at $33,000 (roughly Rs. 25 lakh). Whereas Bitcoin's dominance is currently 42 percent. If buyers can hold the support between $30,000 (roughly Rs. 22 lakh) to $37,000, then the market may stabilise a bit," says Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of crypto investment firm Mudrex speaking to Gadgets 360.

While Bitcoin struggles to find stability, a yearly study conducted by blockchain forensics firm Chainalysis reveals that money laundering in the crypto sector grew from $6.6 billion (roughly Rs. 49,600 crore) to $8.6 billion (roughly Rs. 64,640 crore) between 2020 and 2021. This year's report summary shows that while the total amount of money laundered increased by 30 percent, only a fraction of all transactions came from illicit activities. Despite being a relatively high year-on-year percentage increase, the figure still has a wide gap compared to 2019.

Cryptocurrency has been the subject of intense discussions in Russia these past days. Russian President Vladimir Putin in a recent meeting noted that the country does have advantages when it comes to the mining of cryptocurrencies. In order to mine or generate a cryptocurrency, complex work-of-proof algorithms need to be solved on advanced computers. The process is power-intensive as these advanced computing machines need to be plugged in at all times.

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