Bitcoin lost more than 8 percent to remain at just above $40,000, down about $3,700 from its previous close, in the past 24 hours.
Bitcoin, which is the world’s biggest virtual currency in terms of market capitalisation, is down 15.3 percent from the year-to-date high of $47,989 set on January 2.
Bitcoin market cap was at $766.51 billion, while volume was $1.26 billion in the past 24 hours, according to CoinDesk data.
Bitcoin has witnessed a volatile trend over the past year – the virtual currency oscillated between a high of near $69,000 and a low level of $28,825.76.
Ether, the cryptocurrency linked to the ethereum blockchain network, also fell more than 8 percent to $2,884, down $231.92 from its previous close.
Wall Street indices fell heavily on Thursday over the possibility that Russia could invade Ukraine. Indian equity markets also closed nearly 100 points lower on Thursday.
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Other cryptocurrencies such as Dogecoin, Shiba Inu, Solana, Litcoin, XRP, Chainlink, Cardano, Polygon, Terra, Stellar, Internet Computer, Avalanche, and Cosmos were also lost heavily in the past 24 hours.
International Monetary Fund (IMF) Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva on Tuesday said unbacked cryptocurrencies will be no match for prudently designed central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).
RBI Deputy Governor T Rabi Sankar last week said cryptocurrencies are even worse than Ponzi schemes and threaten the financial sovereignty of a country.
Earlier, finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman in the Union Budget announced a 30 percent tax on the returns from trading or investing in cryptocurrencies or other digital assets such as NFTs.
(Edited by : Bivekananda Biswas)
First Published: IST
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