Bitcoin prices today declined to trade below $63,000 mark. The world's largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization was down over 1% to $62,469.5. The most popular digital token is up 116% this year (year-to-date) so far after hitting a record high of near $67,000 in October.
Ether, the coin linked to ethereum blockchain and the second largest crypto, also plunged 1% to $4,555, as per CoinDesk, whereas dogecoin fell 1% to $0.26. Other digital tokens like XRP, Solana, Cardano, Uniswap, Litecoin, Polkadot were trading with gains over the last 24 hours. Shiba Inu, that has been on a record rally since the past few sessions, declined over 11% to $0.000059.
Ether, the world's second-largest cryptocurrency, hit an all-time high on Wednesday, catching up with bitcoin's rally and riding on news of wider blockchain adoption.
The steady stream of news on cryptocurrency adoption by banks, growth of nonfungible tokens on virtual gaming platforms, launch of bitcoin futures-based U.S. ETFs and a need among investors for diversification in an uncertain interest rate environment have pushed several blockchain tokens, including bitcoin and ether, higher since October.
Bitcoin has more than quadrupled in the past year and reached a record near $67,000 last month amid optimism around the debut of Bitcoin futures-backed exchange-traded funds in the US, and waning concerns about issues like China’s crackdown on the digital-asset space.
Meanwhile, Australia's largest bank, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said on Wednesday it will become the country's first to offer retail clients crypto services.
According to digital assets researcher CryptoCompare, assets under management (AUM) in digital investment products rose 45.5% in October to a record high of $74.7 billion. The total AUM for bitcoin-based products grew 52.2% to $55.2 billion, while ethereum-based funds AUM increased 30% to $15.9 billion, record highs for both categories.
(With inputs from agencies)
