Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Solana loses charm; Polkadot rallies 4%

Six out of the top 10 digital tokens were trading higher at 8.30 am IST, whereas the remaining four were trading lower. Bitcoin, along with Solana and Terra lost some ground, whereas Polkadot and Ethereum zoomed up to 4 per cent.

The global crypto market cap was almost flat to $2.24 trillion mark compared to the last day. The total crypto market volume dropped more than 35 per cent to $89.94 billion.

Bitcoin ended the banner year with a rocky finish. The largest cryptocurrency by market value closed out December with a 19 per cent drop, its largest monthly loss since May.

That was also its worst December since 2013. And its 60 per cent advance in 2021 marked its smallest gain for an up year since 2015, when it climbed 36 per cent.

What’s cooking in India?
Unprecedented interest from retail as well as risk investors has made 2021 the year of cryptocurrency in India, much like the rest of the world. This has also pushed regulators to take note.

The government had listed the Cryptocurrency Bill for consideration in the Budget and Winter session of the Parliament last year, but it has yet to be tabled. Stakeholders are closely watching the developments as the new Budget session approaches.

The industry has grown in terms of awareness among investors, eagerness to regulate the nascent industry, and venture capital inflow. India attracted crypto funding and blockchain investments worth $638 million across 48 rounds in 2021, according to data by industry tracker Tracxn. Globally, funding for crypto and blockchain investments stood at $24.86 billion across 930 funding rounds.

Expert’s Take
Opensea recorded the highest daily sales volume of the last two months yesterday. NFT collections like MAYC, deadfellas have recorded a 300 per cent rally this week, and they can continue to dominate the market, said Hitesh Malviya, Founder, Itsblockchain. “The volume is back in NFTs. We can expect a potential bull run ahead.”

Global updates
Among the three largest digital tokens by market value, Binance Coin or BNB significantly outperformed its two larger rivals Bitcoin and Ether. The coin – issued by crypto exchange Binance Holdings – gained roughly 1,300 per cent in 2021, according to Arcane Research.

Bitcoin is continuing its December retreat and testing a key technical level that over the past two years has tended to act as a floor for the world’s largest cryptocurrency.

NFT Buzz
NFT is an ever-booming subset within the crypto space and ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ is one of the popular ones, which is a collection of 10,000 Bored Ape NFTs hosted on the Ethereum blockchain, said WazirX Trade Desk.

The value of NFT space has been acknowledged by people from the entertainment industry, with the latest purchase made by one of the most popular rappers, Eminem. He bought ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ for $450,000 and people have discovered that he owns 166 other NFTs.

He is amongst peers like Jimmy Fallon, Post Malone, Shaquille O’Neal, and Marshmello, who are ‘Bored Ape Yacht Club’ members as well, it added. “With more and more titans of the industry participating in the NFT space, the space is getting more and more credibility.”

Back home, Indian cryptocurrency exchanges seem to have taken a shine to Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs). At least half a dozen crypto platforms are foraying into the NFT space, assuming that it would not be outlawed as NFTs hold an underlying asset that is traded in digital form.

Tech view from Proassetz Exchange
Matic at present is a relative outperformer with respect to many other cryptos, including Bitcoin. It is moving in an uptrend, which is evident from its series of higher tops in daily chart (shown in diagram), trading above all the important moving averages and also the momentum oscillators like 50- & 100- day ROCs are positioned healthy.

Bloomberg

For the past one week though, Matic is undergoing an intermediate corrective phase. But once it moves above $2.575, the uptrend is likely to resume and the December high of $2.87 will likely be challenged again.