Bitcoin, Ether Recover Well as a Ban on Private Crypto Looms

Bitcoin, along with nearly every other cryptocurrency, took a plunge on Indian crypto exchanges on Wednesday but as the air clears over a looming ban on cryptocurrencies, the panic amongst investors appears to have eased. Bitcoin is currently back up at $59,174 (roughly Rs. 44.07 lakh) on Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber, recovering 15.5 percent after a massive 25 percent dip on early Tuesday night. Meanwhile global exchanges like CoinMarketCap value the most popular cryptocurrency at $57,516 (roughly Rs. 42.8 lakh). The mid-week drop might have bridged the difference between Bitcoin’s valuation on Indian exchanges and global exchanges, but investors in the country are still a little sceptic of going all-in on the dip.

Compared to Bitcoin’s bounce, Ether’s is more significant. Having dropped by over 20 percent in the wee hours of Wednesday, the second most popular cryptocurrency has recovered to values higher than that on Monday. Ether is currently valued at $4,424 (roughly Rs. 3.3 lakh) on CoinSwitch Kuber while values on global exchanges see the second-largest crypto by market cap pegged at $4,295 (roughly Rs. 3.2 lakh). Gadgets 360’s cryptocurrency price tracker reveals that the Ethereum-based cryptocurrency has roughly seen a 7.5 percent plunge in value over the past two weeks since hitting an all-time high of $4,870 (roughly Rs. 3.61 lakh) on November 10.

“The cryptocurrency market remained pretty volatile over the past 24 hours. The largest crypto by market capitalisation, Bitcoin, regained the $58,000 mark. Apart from the top three cryptos, most others remained in a range-bound movement. The coming 24 hours could be a good session for the bulls, if BTC manages to hold the $58,000 (roughly Rs. 43.2 lakh) mark,” expects Edul Patel, CEO and co-founder of AI-driven crypto investment platform, Mudrex.

If Wednesday’s market tracker was dripping in red, today’s is quite the opposite. Cardano, Tether, Ripple, Polkadot, and Litecoin have all gained in value over the past 24 hours, while the sole loser on the chart appears to be Monero — a top 50 coin by market capitalisation and one that’s gone up by 83 percent in valuation over the past year.

Meme coins Dogecoin and Shiba Inu have recovered well too. Dogecoin is currently trading at $0.22 (roughly Rs. 16.69) up by 1.83 percent in the past 24 hours, Shiba Inu is valued at $0.000041 (roughly Rs. 0.003041), up by 0.57 percent.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government has introduced a bill that would ban all private cryptocurrencies from operating in India. The bill, however, doesn’t clearly define what a “private” cryptocurrency is. That said, it is worth noting that India’s banking sector uses the term “private” to refer to any entity that is not controlled by the government. Investors also seek clarity on possible taxation of transactions and holding of crypto as an asset.

It is early to say whether the bill will ultimately pass or whether it will be amended. For now, the bill will proceed to the Parliament’s winter session, which commences on November 29.

On the topic of taxation, South Korea is exploring ways to tax non-fungible tokens (NFTs) amid controversies surrounding crypto regulations in the country. NFTs are virtual collectibles associated with real-life objects like games, artwork, and music among others with ownership locked and transferred on blockchain.

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.