Bitcoin Trades at Over $27,000, Ether Joins Majority Altcoins in Registering Profits

Majority cryptocurrencies managed to record small profits on the crypto charts on Wednesday, May 17. Bitcoin did manage to maintain its value above the mark of $27,180 on Wednesday, after days of trading lowly on both, national as well as international exchanges. With a miniscule gain of 0.50 percent, Bitcoin stepped into the market charts today at the price point of $27,082 (roughly Rs. 22.3 lakh). Industry insiders believe that investors monitoring the debt ceiling negotiations could be the ones pulling away any form of risky investments for now, causing this dip in BTC price.

“Investors are monitoring debt ceiling negotiations. Resolving the issue may bolster Bitcoin as a hedge in the macroeconomic landscape. The rising debt ceiling would benefit risk assets, safeguarding wealth for market participants,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX told Gadgets 360.

Ethereum bagged 0.81 percent in gains to trade at $1,823 (roughly Rs. 1.50 lakh). The second most expensive cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, Ether, rose by $14 (roughly Rs. 1,152) in the last 24 hours.

Speaking to Gadgets 360, the research team of CoinDCX noted that the once strong correlation between BTC and ETH has shown signs of weakening in the current year.

“This indicates at an impending shift in the market dynamics. Recent data reveals that the 30-day rolling correlation between BTC and ETH prices dropped to 77 percent, the lowest since 2021 and significantly weaker than the 96 percent observed just two months ago. This divergence suggests that the relationship between these two are evolving, signalling a potential regime change in the crypto market,” the CoinDCX team said. This decreased correlation is expected to stimulate greater trading activity within Bitcoin and Ethereum pairs going forward.

Stablecoins Tether, USD Coin, Ripple, and Binance USD tagged behind BTC and ETH to record small profits.

Conventionally popular cryptocurrencies like Binance Coin, Cardano, Dogecoin, Solana, Polygon, Litecoin, Polkadot, and Tron among others also managed to see minor price hikes.

The overall crypto market rose by 0.44 percent in the last 24 hours, taking the sector valuation to $1.13 trillion (roughly Rs. 93,23,054 crore) as per CoinMarketCap.

Only a small number of cryptocurrencies settled with losses. These include Leo, Bitcoin Cash, Cronos, Elrond, Bitcoin SV, Braintrust, and Circuits of Value.

In another major update from the crypto world, the European Union states have given the final nod to the world's first comprehensive set of rules to regulate crypto-assets called MiCA. An EU finance minister meeting in Brussels approved rules that were thrashed out with the European Parliament, which gave its approval in April.

The passing of the MiCA legislation in the EU does intensify the pressure on other nations including India, that are still in the process of framing their crypto laws.

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.