Tether, USD Coin Reap Small Gains Despite BTC, ETH Seeing Losses

Bitcoin has failed to show a constant performance this month, bagging highs on some days and registering losses on others. With a 2.05 percent dip, Bitcoin opened trading at $39,150 (roughly Rs. 29 lakh) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber on Thursday, February 24. Similar losses of around two percent struck BTC on foreign exchanges as well, it seems. As per Binance and Coinbase, Bitcoin is down by 2.36 percent. The world's most valued cryptocurrency is trading at $36,663 (roughly Rs. 27.5 lakh) on international exchanges.

Ether stands struggling alongside Bitcoin in a loss-ridden state. Dented by losses of around 5.30 percent, ETH opened trading at $2,624 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh), according to Gadgets 360's crypto price tracker.

The second-most valued cryptocurrency, Ether is trading at $2,620 (roughly Rs. 1.95 lakh) on India's CoinDCX exchange. On international exchanges such as Coinbase, the values are hovering around $2,485 (roughly Rs. 1.80 lakh).

The ongoing Russia-Ukraine tensions are adding to the already volatile nature of cryptocurrencies. Amid strong chances of Russia opening a war on Ukraine, and the US locking horns with Russia to defend Ukraine, the financial sector is seeing hikes in profitable assets like gold. High risk assets like stocks and cryptocurrencies are currently prone to frequent fluctuations.

Along with BTC and ETH, majority altcoins opened with tumbles today. These include Binance Coin, Ripple, Cardano, Polkadot among others. Shiba Inu and Dogecoin also saw losses of 4.5 percent and 6 percent respectively.

Only a few cryptocurrencies saw gains on the red-dominated price charts today.Stablecoins like Tether and USD Coin registered gains, which is not surprising.

Stablecoins are crypto assets, backed by reserve assets like gold or fiat currencies so even if the crypto market is down, they manage to see gains due to the performance of its underlaying asset.

In addition, Terra and Cosmos also bagged small gains.

The crypto market has been witnessing fluctuations since the beginning of this year, which got more intense in February.

Industry experts have predicted the volatility to continue for a while now, given that geo-political conflicts are negatively impacting the financial sector.

“With no end in sight for the ongoing geopolitical conflict, the traditional market and the digital asset sector may face extended uncertainties in the road ahead,” the research team at CoinDCX told Gadgets 360.

Despite the ongoing tough times, the crypto space continues to see expansion and adoption around the world.

The Senate's Economic Affairs Committee has approved the crypto bill in Brazil, which has been extended to higher authorities for clearance now.

The upcoming national digital currency of Jamaica has also been officially named to Jam-Dex

While India still awaits its digital rupee, a set of guidelines for crypto advertisements have been issued in the country, that now require verbal as well as written disclaimers as mandates.

The current crypto market cap stands at $1.59 trillion (roughly Rs. 1,20,10,123 crore). The figure has dropped down since February 22, when crypto sector's market cap was $1.64 trillion (roughly Rs. 122,55,720 crore).

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.