The wider crypto market saw a rather mixed day of trade in the past 24 hours as Bitcoin continues to struggle to break past the $45,000 (roughly Rs. 34 lakh) mark with signs of bearish momentum starting to build as prices continue to hover around $43,700 (roughly Rs. 33 lakh). The world’s most valuable cryptocurrency had a forgettable Wednesday but has seen a slight recovery through early Thursday with a 0.13 percent dip in price over the past 24 hours. Bitcoin’s value currently stands at $45,705 (roughly Rs. 34.5 lakh) on the Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber.

Meanwhile, on global exchanges, the price of the most popular cryptocurrency stood at $43,672 (roughly Rs. 33 lakh) down by 0.5 percent over the past 24 hours. As per CoinGecko data, Bitcoin’s strong movement through the first couple of weeks of February has lost a bit of momentum as the crypto asset has dipped 1.8 percent in value over the past week.

Ether, the second-largest cryptocurrency by market capitalisation, also saw a slight dip in value over the last 24 hours. At the time of publishing, Ether is valued at $3,228 (roughly Rs. 2.5 lakh) on CoinSwitch Kuber while values on global exchanges see the crypto’s value hover around the $3,000 (roughly Rs. 2 lakh) mark at $3,073 (roughly Rs. 2.5 lakh), where the coin dipped by 1.59 percent over the past 24 hours. Compared to the price of Ether a week ago, CoinGecko data reveals that the cryptocurrency’s value has dipped by 5.5 percent. The past two months have kept Ether stuck in a difficult situation because it has seen no significant growth in its value compared to the past few months.

Gadgets 360’s cryptocurrency price tracker reveals that although major crypto assets suffered a bit of fall in value mid-week, most popular altcoins managed minimal gains, although the global cryptocurrency market capitalisation fell by 0.23 percent over the past 24 hours. Avalanche, Polygon, Terra, Polkadot, and Chainlink all managed to increase in value, although Cosmos, and Dash were among the big hitters, adding more than 8 percent in value.

Meme coins Shiba Inu and Dogecoin — the two most sought-after meme coins also saw mixed fortunes. Dogecoin is currently valued at $0.15 (roughly Rs. 12) after dipping by 1.04 percent over the last 24 hours, while, Shiba Inu is valued at $0.000032 (roughly Rs. 0.0025), up by 0.67 percent over the past 24 hours.

At a time when the Russia-Ukraine crisis shows signs of improvement, Russia’s central bank, the Bank of Russia, has announced that it has already conducted initial trials of its Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC), often referred to as the “Digital Ruble”. As per the announcement, two of the banks from Bank of Russia’s pilot group have already connected to the digital currency platform and finished a complete cycle of “Digital Ruble” transfers between customers via mobile banking apps.

While that’s seen as a positive sign for blockchain adoption in the country, Russia is reported to be linked to a majority of crypto hacks and cybercrimes, especially when you consider that 74 percent of ransomware revenue in 2021, which is worth over $400 million (roughly Rs. 3,000 crore) in cryptocurrency, went to accounts affiliated with the country in some way, according to a new report from cryptocurrency tracking and analytics firm Chainalysis.

YouTube is gearing up to strengthen its position in the emerging sector of Web3 after the Google-owned video platform hosted a new job opening on LinkedIn, seeking a project management director to develop and head its Web3 strategies. The appointee will also be responsible for representing YouTube Web3 at executive-level discussions, external organisations, and industry events, the hiring alert notes on the platform’s official LinkedIn handle.

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.