The crypto industry’s latest indignities included a report that India regulators were investigating at least 10 crypto exchanges for allegedly assisting foreign firms to launder money via crypto.
Among the top crypto tokens, Solana and Avalanche plunged four per cent each, whereas Cardano, Polkadot, Polygon, BNB and Bitcoin dropped three per cent each. Only Ethereum was trading in green on Friday.
The global cryptocurrency market cap was trading marginally down at $1.15 trillion mark, dropping less than a per cent in the last 24 hours. However, the total trading volume topped more than four per cent, close to $84.03 billion.
What’s cooking in India
The Enforcement Directorate probe into alleged money laundering by crypto exchange WazirX and the subsequent squabbling among its promoters has revealed the ‘darker side’ of cryptocurrencies, a top government source said to PTI.
The source added that people should exercise caution in absence of a regulation to govern cryptocurrencies and so-called exchanges trading in them. TheED has been investigating allegations of money laundering against WazirX.
The Enforcement Directorate froze assets worth Rs 370 crore of cryptocurrency exchange Vauld. This comes just days after the financial probe agency froze assets of crypto exchange WazirX in connection with a money laundering probe.
Expert’s take
The Crypto Markets saw a significant price action, with Bitcoin rallying up close to $25,000, said CoinDCX Research Team. “There is speculation from the developer community that Ethereum merge can be expected earlier than scheduled,” they said.
BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, launched direct Bitcoin spot exposure, showcasing that despite the steep downturn in the digital asset market, there is substantial interest from institutional clients, it added.
Global updates
The third and final test environment network (testnet) merges before the Ethereum blockchain makes its long-awaited move to proof-of-stake from proof-of-work has successfully been completed.
South Korean prosecutors have made the first arrests in a major investigation involving “abnormal” foreign exchange transactions and crypto investments, a local media outlet reported.
Ethereum miners are facing 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 income streams, JPMorgan said.
Tech view by BuyUcoin cryptocurrency exchange
Avalanche (AVAX) has witnessed an impressive rally and is up by over 25 per cent over the past seven days. AVAX is now the 12th largest crypto in the world by market cap and is up by over 900 per cent from its all-time low.
The fundamentals of AVAX are looking extremely strong and it could easily manage to breach the $35 mark but could face some resistance beyond that level.
The overall crypto market has seen some relief with CPI data indicating relaxed inflation numbers. The current momentum of AVAX will continue if the inflation continues to cool down in the coming weeks.
