Bitcoin dropped sharply during the early trading hours in Asia on Thursday following the hawkish tone from the US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell over rate hikes. However, the largest crypto token found some footing at the lower levels.
Crypto-friendly bank Silvergate will shutter operations. In other news, India, which is presiding over the G-20 summit this year, has put crypto assets under its money laundering laws. The government of India issued a notification about the same on March 7.
Bitcoin slipped below the $22,000 mark, falling about 2 per cent amid the negative news inflows and market volatility. Its largest peer Ethereum was also down, falling more than a per cent and remained below $1,600 level. Altcoins, however, were under severe pain.
Barring XRP, Shiba Inu and US dollar-pegged stablecoins, all other top and popular crypto tokens were trading with big cuts on Thursday. Solana plunged 7 per cent, whereas Polygon shed 6 per cent. Avalanche dropped 5 per cent, while Polkadot, Cardano and Litecoin were down 3 per cent, each. On the contrary, XRP rose 3 per cent.