For cryptocurrencies that are having trouble finding market stability, September has clearly been difficult. On Tuesday, 6 September, Bitcoin began the day down 0.75 per cent. According to Indian exchange CoinSwitch Kuber, the price of one bitcoin is currently $19,748 (roughly Rs 15.7 lakh). However, on the global market Coinbase, BTC values increased by 0.96 per cent to reach the $20,132 mark (roughly Rs 16 lakh). In November of last year, BTC reached its most recent record high, which was over $67,000 (approximately Rs 49.5 lakh).
On the other hand, Ether keeps making progress every day. ETH is currently selling at $1,634 (approximately Rs 1.30 lakh), up 3.73 per cent from its previous price. This ongoing ETH price increase coincides with the launch of the Merge. The Merge, an energy-saving improvement to the Ethereum blockchain, is scheduled to debut in mid-September.
Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies protected by cryptography, making counterfeiting and double spending nearly impossible. Most cryptocurrencies are decentralised networks based on blockchain technology; distributed ledgers powered by a diverse network of computers.
A key feature of cryptocurrencies is that they are generally not issued by a central authority and are theoretically immune to governmental interference or manipulation. A number of industries have started to incorporate cryptocurrencies as a payment method including Starbucks, Home Depot, Whole Foods, and even PayPal having some of the top rated PayPal casinos in the US accepting this payment method. In fact, the gaming industry is becoming more and more fluent with incorporating crypto as a payment method, making it easier and swifter for players to remain anonymous while also protecting their finances in the process.
A number of altcoins followed BTC into losses on the price chart, while the remainder followed ETH into gains.
Tether, USD Coin, and Binance USD stablecoins joined BTC and suffered losses. Along with others, they were joined by Polkadot, Dogecoin, Shiba Inus, Avalanches, and Tron.
In the meantime, ETH was followed by Binance Coin, Ripple, Solana, Polygon, Uniswap, and Chainlink in seeing rises.
The crypto market valuation has dropped and remained below the trillion-dollar threshold since the beginning of September due to the ongoing market instability.
According to CoinMarketCap, the market capitalisation of all cryptocurrencies is $988.03 billion, up 0.62 percent from the previous day (approximately Rs 78,85,463 crore).
The cryptocurrency market is still seeing strong investor interest, but a number of con artists are swarming the sector in search of unsuspecting victims.
Banking and cryptocurrency related apps are at risk of being infected with malware (Mister Phone Cleaner and Kylhavy Mobile Security) that are packaged as apps and circulating on Google Play. Malware can steal cookies from accounts while bypassing authentication methods that require user input such as credentials and fingerprints. Therefore, users should be extra cautious before installing similar apps on their devices.
Will crypto rise again? That is the question everyone is asking. Experts say that inflation will persist for the following two years which may continue to make the crypto markets fragile.
Research and Strategy at blockchain-based identity management platform EarthID VP Sharat Chandra says that ‘Given the high correlation of equity and crypto markets, macroeconomic headwinds such as decade-high inflation and rising commodity prices adversely impact crypto markets. The US Federal Reserve’s aggressive stance on quantitative tightening to tame inflation will further aggravate the downtrend in crypto prices. Since the US money supply has been growing at a rate of 18 per cent, three times the growth rate, inflation will be around for a couple more years and is not transitory in nature.’
