Bitcoin, Ether Gain as Stock Market Resurgence Bears Immediate Impact

The resurgent stock market appears to have had an immediate bearing on the crypto market mid-week although cryptocurrencies are considered by many to be defensive investments against equity market downturns. In terms of value, Bitcoin rose over the past 24 hours, registering a 3.26 percent gain through Wednesday, staying above the $41,000 (roughly Rs. 31 lakh) mark across global exchanges. At the time of writing, the value of Bitcoin is up 2.36 percent in the past 24 hours and stands at $42,947 (roughly Rs. 32.5 lakh) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber.

On global exchanges, the price of Bitcoin stands ever close to the $41,000 (roughly Rs. 31 lakh) mark at $41,296 (roughly Rs. 31.5 lakh) rising 2.94 percent in value over the past 24 hours. As per CoinGecko data, BTC has dropped in value by 4.2 percent in value week-to-day.

As has been the case over the past few weeks Ether, Ether appears to go harder at following Bitcoin's price movement cues. At the time of publishing, Ether is valued at $3,251 (roughly Rs. 2.5 lakh) on CoinSwitch Kuber while values on global exchanges see the crypto's value at $3,119 (roughly Rs. 2.4 lakh), where the coin has risen by 2.25 percent over the past 24 hours.

CoinGecko data reveals that the cryptocurrency's value is still in the red at 1.4 percent over the past week.

As per Gadgets 360's cryptocurrency price tracker, most altcoins fared better on Wednesday. The global crypto market cap witnessed a rise of 2.31 percent over the past 24 hours. Avalanche, Litecoin, Polkadot, and Terra lead the leaderboard with Solana, Cardano, Binance Coin, and Polygon all charting smaller gains on the day.

Shiba Inu and Dogecoin, meanwhile, had a lacklustre day with little price movement in the last 24 hours. Dogecoin is currently valued at $0.15 (roughly Rs. 11) after gaining 0.44 percent over the last 24 hours, while, Shiba Inu is valued at $0.000028 (roughly Rs. 0.002), down by 1.03 percent over the past day.

"The crypto market continued its recovery with BTC climbing above the $40,000 (roughly Rs. 30.5 lakh) mark once again, gaining in investor greed as global stocks remain mixed. Asian shares even gained after US inflation emerged to be not as bad as initially feared. With most leading digital currencies jumping back into the greens, it is clear that crypto has a strengthening relationship with the traditional market, with performances moving in tandem with each other — an indication of the maturing digital asset sector," the research team at CoinDCX tells Gadgets 360.

Closer home, Indian crypto exchanges CoinSwitch Kuber and WazirX have decided to disable rupee deposits for the purchase of cryptocurrency using a widely-used state-backed transfer system, spurring users to voice concern on social media.

India has spent years on a law to ban or regulate cryptocurrencies, with its central bank backing a ban over their threat to financial stability, but a recent decision to tax income from them suggests acceptance by authorities.

The decision follows a one-line statement last week by the National Payments Corporation of India saying, it was not aware of any crypto exchange using its United Payments Interface (UPI) framework, which eases bank transfers.

Elsewhere, Sky Mavis, the developer studio of popular NFT game Axie Infinity, is ramping up efforts to secure its networks. The firm is offering up to $1 million (roughly Rs. 7.5 crore) as a bug bounty to developers who could identify security loopholes in its networks.

The step follows a mega hack incident that drained Sky Mavis's Ronin Network out of $625 million (roughly Rs. 4,729 crore). The Ronin Network is an Ethereum-linked sidechain built by Sky Mavis for blockchain gaming specifically.

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.