Cryptocurrency update: Binance coin gains by 5.6%; Cardano slips 3.34%

Bitcoin, the biggest and oldest cryptocurrency gained by 1.07% to $48,781.24-levels on August 26. While, Ethereum, the second-largest virtual token, also increased by 0.20% to $3,216.87. Six out of the top 10 cryptocurrencies were trading in red, with Cardano showing the highest decline of 3.34%, on Thursday, while the rest were in green. Binance coin showed the highest gain of 5.68%.

Cryptocurrency prices

*All prices as of 26 August 2021, at 8:19 AM, Table Source: Coinmarketcap.com. Conversion rate for the USD to INR used was $1=Rs 74.16

Economic turbulence pushes Afghans to hold on to cryptocurrencies

Amid the economic crises triggered by the Taliban’s hostile takeover, the citizens of Afghanistan are relying on their cryptocurrency holdings that would guarantee the safety of their wealth, though it won’t help them purchase anything immediately.

Cryptocurrency investment is fairly a new concept in Afghanistan. According to the Chainalysis 2021 Global Crypto Adoption Index, the country was ranked 20th out of the 154 countries that participated in it. Last year the country did not even make it to the list. This indicates the country’s rapid adoption of digital coins.

This year, Afghans started investing in cryptocurrencies owing to the fear of economic crises, as the Taliban started to take control of the country, data showed.

Web searches for Bitcoin and other cryptos in the country have seen a spike in July just weeks before the Taliban coup in Kabul, according to Google trends data.  However, the exact number of searches cannot be determined as the tool only calculates the measure of interest and not actual numbers.