Bitcoin, Ether Prices Recoil After Recent Gains, Stablecoins Show Resilience

Crypto sector has remained volatile in recent days as the geopolitical rivalry between Russia and Ukraine turned into a war fifteen days ago. Bitcoin today opened trading with minor losses. As per Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber, BTC dipped in value by 4.58 percent to trade at $40,354 (roughly Rs. 31 lakh). The oldest cryptocurrency followed a similar trajectory on international exchanges as well. With losses of up to six percent denting its value, BTC prices hover around $38,627 (roughly Rs. 29.5 lakh) on Coinbase and CoinMarketCap.

Ether also rolled down the price ladder following Bitcoin's tumble. ETH prices fell by 3.43 percent bringing its trading price to $2,670 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) as per Gadgets 360's crypto price tracker. Ether prices slipped down by over 4.3 percent on global exchanges as well. On CoinMarketCap for instance, ETH is trading at $2,552 (roughly Rs. 1.95 lakh).

Both, Bitcoin and Ether showed signs of recovery earlier this week. While BTC values continued to hover over the mark of $42,000 (roughly Rs. 32 lakh), ETH values remained close to $2,600 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh). Today may have started on a rough note for the top two cryptocurrencies, their fluctuating prices could see highs in the coming days, market pattern suggests.

Several other popular cryptocurrencies collapsed on the price scale as their high-risk nature kept investors a tad detached amid the ongoing turmoil in international politics.

“India, for example, saw an exodus of funds from foreign investors, with some $2.9 billion (roughly Rs. 22,130 crore) worth of foreign capital leaving Indian shores last week,” the research team at CoinDCX told Gadgets 360.

Binance Coin, Ripple, and Cardano along with Litecoin, Chainlink, and Polygon reeled-in losses.

Shiba Inu and Dogecoin also made place among value-losing currencies.

The majorly loss-ridden crypto movement comes despite the sector getting official recognition in the US and UAE.

While US President Joe Biden signed executive orders on government oversight of the cryptocurrency industry, Dubai got a set of new regulatory frameworks.

The Ukraine-Russia conflict is weighing heavy on the market scale, keeping crypto investors away, especially from India.

“The persisting situation in Ukraine, alongside the economic fallout and inflationary pressure were the primary concerns weighing on investors' minds,” the CoinDCX team added.

Some stablecoins saw gains, but only minor ones.

Tether, USD Coin, and Binance USD are part of the list.

Other underdog cryptocurrencies like Tron, Terra, Elrond, ZCash, and Dash also saw small profits.

The concept of CBDCs — central bank digital currencies — is gaining more attraction from world leaders.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, for instance, has said that she expects the nation's central bank to launch a CBDC this year, accelerating the timeline from the earlier 2022-2023 announcement.

The current market cap of the crypto sector stands at $1.72 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,31,36,857 crore) as per CoinMarketCap. It has gone lower than its figure of $1.83 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,40,87,797 crore) from March 9.

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.