Cryptocurrency Price Today: Top cryptocurrency prices today: Bitcoin, Terra, Ethereum zoom up to 14%; Shiba Inu falls

New Delhi: Crypto market was trading with minor gains on Wednesday, ahead of the much-awaited executive order by US President Joe Biden. Investors eyed a long-awaited crypto executive order by Biden that will outline the country’s approach to regulation. The war between Russia and Ukraine kept the upside capped.

Barring meme coin Shiba Inu, all of the top digital tokens were trading higher. Terra zoomed 14 per cent, followed by Ethereum, which rose 3 per cent. Bitcoin added 2 per cent.

The global cryptocurrency market cap jumped to $1.77 trillion, adding almost 3 per cent in the last 24 hours. Total cryptocurrency trading volume tumbled more than 8 per cent to $78.95 billion.

What’s cooking in India
The government of India is expecting its central bank digital currency (CBDC) to be rolled out this year, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Tuesday.

In the union budget 2022, tabled on February 1, Sitharaman had announced that India will launch its own CBDC, backed by the Reserve Bank of India.

Also, days after the Advertising Standards Council of India (ASCI) rolled out guidelines for the advertising of virtual digital assets, celebrities have started inserting indemnity clauses in their contracts with crypto exchanges.

These celebrities have hired lawyers who are drawing out these indemnity contracts where any future liability or other penalties would be taken care of by the exchange.

Expert Take
“In the cryptocurrency space, industry regulation often divides the community,” said WazirX Trade Desk. “Also, Biden’s order will be a big step towards regulating the cryptocurrency space.”

The pro-regulation side mentions that there will be more investor protection, a drop in money laundering and tax evasion, and it is likely going to attract money from conservative investors.

The group against regulation mentions that regulation is against the spirit of cryptocurrency and the government could take bad decisions due to lack of knowledge in the space and hinder innovation.

“After cryptocurrency was cited as a potential tool to circumvent the sanctions on the Russian government and the oligarchs, the US government mentioned that president Joe Biden is going to sign the executive order on crypto in the coming few days,” it added.

Global updates
US authorities filed criminal charges against a cryptocurrency executive and civil charges against him and his sister, accusing them of defrauding retail investors out of millions of dollars with a digital token known as Ormeus Coin.

Thailand is relaxing tax rules for crypto trading until the end of 2023 in order to boost the industry, the country’s finance minister said at a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

Bain Capital, the investment firm with around $155 billion in assets under management, announced a $560 million fund focused exclusively on the crypto ecosystem.

The Avalanche Foundation announced a major push to woo top projects with a cache of 4 million AVAX tokens, which is about $290 million.

Tech view from BuyUcoin Cryptocurrency Exchange
The XRP Relative Strength Index suggests a lack of confidence, resulting in a somewhat muted and tiny intraday increase of 1-5 per cent. Gains are expected to rise by $0.75 or $0.76.

Price movement is pushed up against a ceiling of $0.76 or $0.78, indicating a bullish squeeze. Price movement could see a very rapid punch-through-move towards $0.84 if it breaks above $0.78.

Expect a break back towards $0.70, with the possibility of bears increasing their short positions depending on the intensity of the current market movement. Bears will try to catch the bulls in a trap and squeeze them out as far as they can with that move; so a dip to $0.65 or perhaps $0.62 is not out of the question.

(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.)