Bitcoin, Ether Start the Week Slow, Cardano Surges 7 Percent

Bitcoin hasn't dipped by a whole lot over the past week but the week hasn't begun particularly well for the largest cryptocurrency by market cap as the wider crypto market continues to battle high volatility. Bitcoin witnessed a rough 2.37 percent dip in value through Monday and is currently at $45,553 (roughly Rs. 33.88 lakh), down by 1.04 percent over the past 24 hours on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber. Meanwhile, on global exchanges, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency stands at $42,060 (roughly Rs. 31.28 lakh) down by 1.44 percent over the past 24 hours.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation showed signs of recovery over the weekend but has had a weak start to this week. The Ethereum-based cryptocurrency witnessed a dip of 4.46 percent through Monday and hasn't begun Tuesday on a strong note either. At the time of publishing, Ether is valued at $3,447 (roughly Rs. 2.56 lakh) on CoinSwitch Kuber while values on global exchanges see the crypto pegged lower at $3,182 (roughly Rs. 2.36 lakh), where the coin saw a dip of 2.03 percent over the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin and Ether aren't the only cryptocurrencies that have had a slow start to the week. Gadgets 360's cryptocurrency price tracker shows that most popular atlcoins witnessed a drop in value over the past 24 hours. Ripple, Polkadot, Chainlink, Uniswap, Polygon, and Litecoin are all in the red. Tether and Cardano turned out to be the only cryptocurrencies to see prices surge. Cardano, in fact, appears to be doing particularly well as CoinGecko data shows a 39 percent rise in value for the "Ethereum-killer" over the past week.

Meme coins have seen a bit of a surge in value over the past week in general, but the week hasn't begun well for them either. Dogecoin is currently valued at $0.18 (roughly Rs. 13.71) after dipping by 4.96 percent through Monday, while, Shiba Inu is valued at $0.000031 (roughly Rs. 0.002316), down 1.7 percent over the past 24 hours.

"The global cryptocurrency market cap slipped 2 percent to $2.15 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,59,96,049 crore) While cryptocurrency prices plunged with Bitcoin trading below $43,000 (roughly Rs. 31.99 lakh). Cardano has surged up to 7 percent in the past 24 hours. This surge in ADA could be because of the developments with regard to its blockchain. The inflation rates in the US might soon fuel the demand for Bitcoin and other cryptos. The coming days would be critical for the crypto spectrum," says Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of crypto investment firm Mudrex speaking to Gadgets 360.

Speaking about the challenges at hand with regards to crypto regulation, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while addressing the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Davos Agenda virtually said the kind of technology that is associated with crypto will make decisions taken by one country insufficient to deal with challenges.

"The kind of technology it (cryptocurrency) is associated with, the decisions taken by a single country will be insufficient to deal with its challenges. We need to have similar mindset," he said.

In 2021, cryptocurrencies witnessed a massive expansion in several parts of the world, including India. Around 100 million Indians are reportedly experimenting with the crypto space at a time when the government is still deliberating its official stance on cryptocurrencies.

Impacted by a lack of research and awareness, many crypto-enthusiastic Indians are landing on scam websites, a new research by Chainalysis shows. In 2021 alone, fake crypto websites registered 9.6 million visits from India, the report claimed.

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.