The global cryptocurrency market capitalization fell 4.71 percent over the last 24 hours to $1.90 trillion while trading volumes were down 11.40 percent to $61.69 billion.

While decentralized finance (DeFi) accounted for 13.68 percent of the 24-hour cryptocurrency trading volume at $8.44 billion, stable coins constituted 77.69 percent of the same at $47.92 billion.

Bitcoin’s market dominance fell by 0.43 percent to 41.55 percent and the currency was trading at $40,782.87 on the morning of February 18.

In rupee terms, Bitcoin fell 1.31 percent to trade at Rs 33,84,999, while Ethereum dipped 1.44 percent to Rs 2,40,000

Cardano was down 1.33 percent to Rs 83.86 and Avalanche fell 0.57 percent to Rs 7,285.7. Polkadot fell 1.74 percent to Rs 1,508 and Litecoin was down 2.63 percent to Rs 9,792.5 in the last 24 hours. Tether was up 0.09 percent to Rs 78.27.

XRP was down by 4.82 percent, Solana was down by 5.54 percent, Terra was down by 8.67 percent, Avalanche was down by 6.99 percent, Cardano was down by 4.20 percent, and Stellar was down by 7.55 percent.

Other popular crypto coins Polkadot was down by 5.28 percent Dogecoin was down by 4.76 percent, Shiba Inu was down by 5.55 percent, and Polygon was down by 7.38 percent.

“The global crypto market cap fell by nearly 7 percent, while the trading volume rose by 25 percent in the past 24 hours. Bitcoin and Ethereum dipped 7 percent, each trading at US$40,000 and US$2,900. BTC’s support price holds between US$38,000 to US$40,000, which could stabilize the current pullback,” said Edul Patel, CEO, and Co-founder, Murex.

“According to the market cap, the top cryptos ran in red over the previous day. This drop in the crypto market is due to the ongoing tensions between Russia and Ukraine. Investors seem to be concerned about the inflation levels too,” Edul Patel said.

The recent volatility in cryptos has come amid a broader market selloff driven by investors recalibrating their portfolios to account for a more aggressive Fed, which is now expected to raise rates as many as seven times this year as it fights surging inflation.

On Wednesday, the US Federal Reserve released minutes from the committee’s January meeting, which reinforced its intention to act swiftly to quell rising inflation with tightening monetary policy.

Bitcoin, which exhibits a strong correlation to movements in the US stock indexes lately, even gained with the S&P 500 in the minutes following the memo’s release, reported Bloomberg.

New Chainalysis data has found that 4,068 “criminal whales” hold $25 billion worth of cryptocurrency. The firm defines criminal crypto whales as any private wallet that holds $1 million or more of cryptocurrency and has received 10% or more of those funds through illicit addresses. (In other words, not all of that $25 billion is illicit.)

The data has been released in a preview of Chainalysis’ upcoming 2022 Crypto Crime Report and follows similar, recent reports on ransomware, NFT fraud, money laundering, and malware. Of the $11 billion in illicit balances at the end of 2021, stolen funds accounted for 93% or $9.8 billion. Darknet market funds are next at $448 million, followed by scams at $192 million, fraud shops at $66 million, and ransomware at $30 million, according to the report

Months after including Bitcoin in its Tips feature, Twitter is branching out to Ethereum addresses.” As of today, global Twitter users can add Ethereum Address to their Tips,” said a company spokesperson. “We’ve continued adding to our list of payment providers to ensure that Tips offers options for as many people as possible, no matter where you are.”

Coinbase announced a pilot program that will let Mexicans receive crypto transfers and then convert the balance into pesos by presenting a redemption code at more than 37,000 stores. The transfers will be free of charge until March 31. 

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