Cryptocurrency Prices Today: Bitcoin trading above $43,000; ETH in green

Bitcoin (Representative image)

The global cryptocurrency market capitalisation fell 0.65 percent over the last 24 hours to $1.92 trillion, while trading volumes fell 9.97 percent to $94.83 billion during the same period.

Over the last 24 hours, the total volume in the decentralised finance (DeFi) space stood at $17.29 billion, constituting around 18.23 percent of the 24-hour cryptocurrency trading volume. The total volume in stablecoins stood at $79.08 billion, around 83.39 percent of the 24-hour cryptocurrency trading volume.

Bitcoin's market dominance fell 0.06 percent to 43.24 percent and the currency was trading at $43,691.16 on the morning of March 3, 2022.

In rupee terms, Bitcoin rose 0.37 percent to trade at Rs 34,47,053 while Ethereum increased 1.06 percent to Rs 2,30,658.3

Cardano was down 1.42 percent to Rs 73.25 and Avalanche dipped 3.61 percent to Rs 6,484.11. Polkadot was down 1.01 percent to Rs 1,438.6 and Litecoin was down 0.35 percent to Rs 8,685.95 in the last 24 hours. Tether was up 1.07 percent to Rs 78.71

Memecoin SHIB fell 0.68 percent while Dogecoin was up by 0.55 percent to trade at Rs 10.39. Terra (LUNA) rose 1.94 percent to Rs 7,277.28

In response to a letter from four Senate Democrats, namely Elizabeth Warren, Mark Warner, Jack Reed, and Banking Committee Chair Sherrod Brown raising concerns about cryptocurrencies' potential use by Russia to avoid sanctions, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has said that the U.S. will monitor the situation.

The letter detailed how "strong enforcement of sanctions compliance in the cryptocurrency industry is critical given that digital asset, which allow entities to bypass the traditional financial system, may increasingly be used as a tool for sanctions evasion."

“We will continue to look at how the sanctions work and evaluate whether or not there are leakages, and we have the possibility to address them.  I often hear cryptocurrency mentioned, and that is a channel to be watched. It’s not that that sector is completely one where things can be evaded", she continued.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which has taken a tough line toward cryptocurrency projects under Chairman Gary Gensler, is probing NFT creators and marketplaces for regulatory violations, according to a Bloomberg report.

Per the report, the probe is looking into whether NFTs "are being utilized to raise money like traditional securities." The SEC has reportedly sent subpoenas related to the investigation and is particularly interested in information about fractional NFTs, which allow multiple people to hold (and trade) a share of an asset.

As of 8:20 am, these were the prices of various cryptocurrencies in the Indian market (Data from WazirX)