Bitcoin, Ethereum and Most Cryptocurrencies Rebound Despite Regulatory Crackdown

Bitcoin on Friday rebounded from last day's minor dip, with a 2.77 percent increase in value to its current price point. The oldest cryptocurrency, at the time of publishing, was trading at $28,236 (roughly Rs. 23 lakh). Bitcoin's value remained similar on both national and international exchanges. In the last 24 hours, the most expensive cryptocurrency rose by $865 (roughly Rs. 71,155) from yesterday's trading value of $27,371 (roughly Rs. 22.5 lakh). BTC's price rally pulled most cryptocurrencies with it, as they recovered from yesterday's dip.

On the other hand, Ether minted profits of 4.15 percent on Friday. This took ETH's trading value to $1,812 (roughly Rs. 1.49 lakh), as per the crypto price tracker by Gadgets 360. The second-most expensive cryptocurrency grew in value by $74 (roughly Rs. 6,087).

While these two cryptocurrencies have traditionally shared a close relationship, a notable divergence between BTC and ETH is an indicator of the changing landscape of the crypto sector. Industry experts have observed that institutional investors have shown a preference towards Ether over Bitcoin in recent times.

“The number of BTC addresses holding over 1,000 tokens has dropped by 12 percent since March 2022. This decline indicates a cautious approach from the group, possibly due to regulatory uncertainty and market volatility. In contrast, more prominent ether investors have increased by five percent over the same period,” Rajagopal Menon, Vice President, WazirX told Gadgets 360.

On Friday, most cryptocurrencies recorded a rise in prices. These include Binance Coin, USD Coin, Ripple, Cardano, Polygon, and Solana.

“This price surge is happening even as the regulatory crackdown in the US has intensified. After shutting the three leading US banking channels for the crypto participants, last week was marred by the SEC's actions against the industry. The most shocking was a Wells notice to the highly compliant and publicly listed Coinbase, alongside a securities fraud claim on Justin Sun's Tron (TRX) and BitTorrent (BTT). Even SUSHI founders were sent a subpoena by the SEC,” Parth Chaturvedi, Crypto Ecosystem Lead, CoinSwitch told Gadgets 360.

Small losses struck Tether, Binance USD, and Wrapped Bitcoin among a few other altcoins.

The overall crypto market valuation touched $1.18 trillion (roughly Rs. 97,32,968 crore) with a 3.10 percent hike in the last 24 hours.

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