Cryptocurrency prices were slightly lower today with Bitcoin trading 0.4% lower at $39,668. Ether, the coin-linked to ethereum blockchain and dogecoin were down nearly 1% to $2,289 and $0.20 respectively. Other digital coins like Cardano, Uniswap also plunged, whereas, XRP, Stellar and Litecoin were up over the last 24 hours.
Bitcoin remains far below its mid-April high of almost $65,000. However, it has been surging in the past few sessions after recent positive comments from billionaire Elon Musk and Ark Investment Management’s Cathie Wood, along with speculation over Amazon’s potential involvement in the cryptocurrency sector.
Amazon’s job listing said that the company is looking for “an experienced product leader to develop Amazon’s Digital Currency and Blockchain strategy and product roadmap.” However, Amazon in a statement rejected as “fabricated” a report that said it would be accepting payments in cryptocurrency by the end of the year, and that it could launch its own digital coin in 2022.
Meanwhile, Looking at data from 20 major exchanges worldwide, Coinbase found that Bitcoin’s trading volume for the period reached $2.1 trillion, up 489% from $356 billion over the first half of last year. In the same period, Ether’s total trading volume reached $1.4 trillion, up 1,461% from $92 billion in the first half of 2020. This was the first sustained period of time ever for Ether’s trading pace to exceed Bitcoin’s, according to Coinbase.
In another news, Tesla Inc’s June quarter earnings showed that the US-based electric car company was still holding $1.3 billion worth of bitcoin on its balance sheet, putting to rest speculations that the company might have trimmed its position during the period.
(With inputs from agencies)
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