Crypto price today: Bitcoin hovers near $24,000; BNB, Polkadot, Uniswap fall up to 2%

New Delhi: After a strong rally on Thursday, the crypto market saw some profit booking on Friday. Bitcoin breathed below $24,000, while Ethereum held at $1,900 ahead of the much-anticipated merger buzz.

The crypto industry’s latest outrages included a report that India’s regulators were investigating at least 10 crypto exchanges for allegedly helping foreign firms launder money via crypto.

Among the top crypto tokens, Solana and Avalanche plunged four percent each, while Cardano, Polkadot, Polygon, BNB and Bitcoin each fell three percent. Only Ethereum traded in the green on Friday.

The global cryptocurrency market cap traded marginally at $1.15 trillion, falling less than one percent in the past 24 hours. However, total trading volume peaked more than four percent, close to $84.03 billion.

What is cooking in India

The Enforcement Directorate is investigating alleged money laundering by crypto exchange WazirX and the ensuing tussle between the promoters has exposed the “darker side” of cryptocurrencies, a top government source told PTI. The source added that people should exercise caution in the absence of a regulation to govern cryptocurrencies and so-called exchanges that trade in them. TheED has been investigating allegations of money laundering against WazirX.

The Enforcement Directorate froze assets worth Rs 370 crore from cryptocurrency exchange Vauld. This comes just days after the Financial Intelligence Agency froze assets of crypto exchange WazirX in connection with a money laundering investigation.

The expert’s assessment

Crypto markets saw significant price action, with Bitcoin rallying near $25,000, the CoinDCX Research Team said. “There is speculation from the developer community that Ethereum merger may be expected earlier than planned,” they said.

BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, launched direct Bitcoin spot exposure, showing that despite the sharp decline in the digital asset market, there is significant interest from institutional clients, it added.

Global updates

The third and final test environment network (testnet) is merging before the Ethereum blockchain makes its long-awaited move to proof-of-stake from proof-of-work has been completed.

South Korean prosecutors have made the first arrests in a major investigation involving “abnormal” currency transactions and crypto investments, a local media outlet reported.

Ethereum miners face an abrupt change after the network moves to a proof-of-stake consensus mechanism from a proof-of-work system and their role effectively ends, forcing them to seek alternative revenue streams, JPMorgan said.

Technical view of BuyUcoin cryptocurrency exchange

Avalanche (AVAX) has witnessed an impressive rally, rising over 25 percent in the past seven days. AVAX is now the 12th largest crypto in the world by market capitalization and is up over 900 percent from its all-time low.

The fundamentals for AVAX look extremely strong and it could easily manage to break the $35 mark, but may face some resistance beyond that level.

The overall crypto market has seen some relief with CPI data indicating relaxed inflation figures. AVAX’s current momentum will continue if inflation continues to cool in the coming weeks.

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