Top cryptocurrency prices today: Ethereum, Solana, Shiba Inu, Avalanche drop up to 15%

Bitcoin, which is considered the least risky of digital assets, held some ground, amid ongoing concerns about high inflation and economic downturn. Bitcoin’s market cap has recently spiked relative to other cryptocurrencies.

Barring the stablecoin USD Coin, all crypto tokens were trading sharply lower on Friday. Avalanche tumbled 15 per cent, whereas Solana plunged 11 per cent. Ethereum, Shiba Inu and Cardano dropped 9 per cent each.

The global cryptocurrency market cap was trading lower at $1.20 trillion, dropping more than 5 per cent in the last 24 hours. However, the total cryptocurrency trading volume zoomed as much as 50 per cent to $103.25 billion.

What’s cooking in India
The Coinbase CEO sowed the seed of a Supreme Court challenge by tweeting to ask if the RBI’s “shadow ban” – in which payment processors cut off local crypto exchanges – was a violation of a 2020 Supreme Court ruling.

His tweet came following his company’s ill-fated India launch, which led to Coinbase exiting the country days later. Armstrong later pointed to “informal pressure” from the RBI as a reason for the exit.

Expert take
Bitcoin fell to the $28,000 level on Thursday as bearish pressure continued to increase, heading towards the weekend, said Edul Patel, CEO and Co-founder of Mudrex.

With Bitcoin and Ethereum falling below their support levels, selling pressure increased, creating fear among the market participants, he added. “But a drop from $28,000 level could result in Bitcoin going even lower.”

Over the past 24 hours, despite a strong rise in the equities, crypto markets have been in severe pain, particularly the altcoins. The correlation of cryptos and equities has broken for a while, apparently, said Kunal Jagdale, Founder, BitsAir Exchange.

“Terra’s debacle is still hurting the sentiments, especially in the Defi space. With macroeconomic consideration in mind, investors should stay away from the high-risk investments at the movement,” he added.

Global updates

• A group of former executives of cryptocurrency exchange Binance have created a $100 million venture fund with a focus on the metaverse and bringing greater crypto adoption to emerging markets.

• Circle Internet Financial is arguing the U.S. Federal Reserve should pass on launching a digital dollar, arguing that could strangle private-sector efforts such as Circle’s to manage their own dollar-based tokens.

• European Central Bank (ECB) President Christine Lagarde urged patience as the bank looks to pare back its now 8 trillion euro balance sheet in the face of galloping inflation, and asked viewers of a Dutch talk show to imagine the damage to the economy had the central bank not intervened in such a large way during the COVID crisis.

Tech View by Coinstore cryptocurrency exchange
Ether, the most popular altcoin is under tremendous pressure due to the $1 billion options expiry this week. Adding to the pressure are various macroeconomic factors that may push Ether further towards a new lower support level.

ET CONTRIBUTORS

Ether slipped below the $1800 mark which may have spooked the investors resulting in a broader sell-off. The price has recovered slightly and Ether is back above the $1800 mark. It is important to note that the options expiry this month has significantly reduced the risk appetite of investors and we may see sellers dominate the market in the coming weeks.

(Views and recommendations given in this section are the analysts’ own and do not represent those of ETMarkets.com. Please consult your financial adviser before taking any position in the asset/s mentioned.)